


Girl Meets Season 4

by yuniesan



Series: After Season 3 Fics [1]
Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bullying, Cory Matthews Life Lessons, Everyone is insecure about something, F/M, High Schoolers being High Schoolers, Insecurity, Life Lessons from your author as well, Texas Lucas, World of Terror, and maybe from Feeny too, remembering things that should have died in season 2, rucas, surprises guest appearances
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-08-17 04:45:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 73,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16509629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuniesan/pseuds/yuniesan
Summary: The Continuing Saga of Riley and her friends as they tackle their Sophomore year in High School. The ups, the downs, and everything in between. What will their sophomore year be like? Read and find out.





	1. Girl Meets Saturday Detention

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still working on moving my stories from FF.net and WattPad over here, so here's my Season 4 fic which I wrote right after the show had been cancelled.

They had been sophomores for two weeks and Riley couldn’t believe that Maya had done something so crazy that it landed all six of them in Saturday detention at the same time. She couldn’t help but be angry at her best friend for causing it, Riley didn’t want anything bad on her permanent record. The memory of the D she had gotten in Spanish still haunted her even though she had pulled up her grade in the long run.

“Riley,” Maya said trying to get her attention as they stood out in the hallway waiting for the guys. “Riles… Honey… you have to talk to me.”

Riley turned around and looked at a spot on the wall, she thought about hiding in the hole but it was pointless. The guys were walking up the nearby stairs, Smackle glaring at Farkle, Lucas kept staring at the floor, while Zay happily smiled at everyone.

“I hate this,” Riley finally said. “Why did you have to do? Why Maya?”

“Because Zay kept saying that we needed to do something crazy,” Maya said. “and he’s right I’ve had the need to do something for a long time.”

“But you threw mashed potatoes at the cafeteria lady, she never did anything to you, and on top of that instead of stopping you forced everyone into this crazy food fight, that we had to clean up afterwards on top of having to be here today.”

“It was worth it though,” Zay said as he joined Riley and Maya. “Wasn’t it.”

“Yeah it was,” Maya said and Riley groaned walking over to her boyfriend.

Lucas pulled her into his arms and sighed. “This isn’t worth it at all,” he said to their friends.

“Oh here comes Lucas the Good,” Maya said. “Ranger Rick wants to be a good person but I know you have a little bad in you.”

“I don’t care about that Maya, not if it’s going to upset Riley,” he said.

“Shut it the both of you, let’s just get through this horrible morning, we’ll be out by noon and we will never have to deal with this again,” Riley said pulling Lucas away.

Farkle and Smackle hadn’t said a word, like Riley they were disappointed in how they had been dragged into the situation. Their records had been marred and they couldn’t handle how their families had reacted. Neither of their parents were disappointed, instead they thought that it would be a good learning experience since the two geniuses had nothing put perfect records.

The six of them sat down in the school library, Zay and Maya were still joking around, Farkle and Smackle pulled out their homework, and Lucas just held Riley’s hand.

“Okay you delinquents,” Mr. Matthews said as he walked in through the doors. “Can’t believe I’m here on a Saturday, this isn’t a freaking movie.”

“Hi Daddy,” Riley said trying to smile but failing to bring herself to do it.

“I’m not Daddy today, instead I’m your warden, because even though I know you didn’t start that food fight,” he said looking at Maya and Zay. “You participated in it.”

Riley wanted to say that it wasn’t true, but she couldn’t, she hadn’t stopped Maya and when she was trying to walk away with her food, she slipped on a pile of potatoes and tossed her tray up in the air before it landed on the Principal. Her own clumsiness was her downfall.

“Now, you all have an assignment, and as much as I know you six, you’re not allowed to sit at the same tables,” he said separating Riley from Lucas and putting her in a table as far away as possible. “Now separate, and get to work, you each have to write a paper about a battle during a war in American history, so I chose the Civil War for you all, and you each have to write it from one side of the war.”

“Is that why we’re in the library Matthews, because that sounds weak,” Maya said.

Riley glared at her best friend before looking down, “Which side do I get?” she said knowing that she needed to keep herself from lashing out.

“Riley, Smackle, and Farkle, you each are a part the union side, Maya, Lucas, and Zay you get the confederate side of the war. Farkle and Zay you get the battle of first Bull Run, Smackle and Lucas will get Battle of Antietam, lastly Riley and Maya will get the Battle of Gettysburg.”

“Is there a lesson in this sir,” Farkle said looking up at his teacher.

“No Farkle, I just want you all to learn that sometimes starting a war can have dramatic consequences, so I chose the war this country fought with themselves all because of how they viewed the changing dynamics in their lives,” he said looking at the group sitting around the room. “They had to fight a war before they realized that they were better off as friends, and although we still feel the remnants of that war today, we need to remember that some friendships need to break apart before they realize how much they need one another.”

Maya scoffed and looked around but when she noticed the faces on four of her friends she knew that she may have done something wrong. Riley hadn’t spoken to her since, and every time she tried to talk to her friend she would get the cold shoulder.

“Since I don’t trust any of you,” he said pulling out a box. “Give me your phones.” They all dropped their phones into the box one by one. “I’ll be back to check with you all in an hour, and I’ll bring something for you to eat as well,” Mr. Matthews said before leaving them alone in the library.

“I guess we should get to work,” Riley said getting up and heading into the stacks. Maya followed her since they were both working on the same battle, yet they were on different sides.

“This feels like that time in middle school, were you were in Rileytown, and I was in Mayaville,” Maya said trying to start a conversation.

“Yeah, except do you remember how that turned out Maya?” Riley said turning to her friend. “Everyone went bad except for me, I got kidnapped, and your reaction in the end was that one day you would bring me to your side. I learned since that I just want to be me, and not a part of you.”

“But Riles.”

“No Maya, I love you like a sister but in the end I’m happy becoming who I am, I don’t want war paint on my face, I just want my best friend to know when she should stop before she goes too far.”

“Okay,” Maya said as Riley started pulling out books on the battle of Gettysburg.

“You take half and I’ll take half,” Riley said as they walked back to their tables. “Maybe after this is done we can learn something.”

“Yeah,” Maya said feeling defeated.

The rest of the group did the same, they grabbed their books and started working, none of them said a word to the other as time passed. Riley looked up and smiled at her father when he came in and gave them all breakfast sandwiches he had gotten from her mother’s café before he walked back out and left them alone.

“This is so boring,” Zay said after her father left. “Can we do something more fun, like sneak out and play in the gym?”

“No,” Farkle said to Zay before going back to writing his essay.

After another twenty minutes had passed Riley had finished putting the final touches on her short paper, when she looked up she saw that Lucas had finished as well. The only ones still working on their papers were Maya and Zay, both of which had started doing other things. Zay had constructed a paper football, and Maya had drawn all over her paper.

Farkle nodded at Riley and the two of them got up and sat next to the other half of their paper partners. Farkle started helping Zay with his and Riley took away the stuff that Maya had been drawing on and pulled her away from the table with the books.

“You have to do this Maya,” she said and the blonde girl nodded.

“I’m sorry,” Maya said. “I didn’t think, mainly because it had been fun but I didn’t really think about what I was doing.”

“That’s the problem you never think, and while at times it’s fun, that day it wasn’t and we all got in trouble, even me and I was trying to walk away.”

Maya looked down at her hands, they were covered in black from doing the pencil drawing, “Are you going to help me with my paper?”

“Yes, but they have to be your words. You have to understand what that battle meant for these people and why it happened.”

“Okay,” she said.

They worked together for another hour as Maya wrote down everything she could, once they were done, Riley realized that they only had a half an hour left in their detention and smiled at Maya for finishing something without complaining.

“Okay,” Riley said as they joined the group. “How about we play a friendly game of hide and seek, in the library, only the person looking has to wear a blind fold until they count to one hundred.”

“Riley,” Maya said smiling. “Are you breaking the rules?”

“Maya… We all finished our work so we’re allowed a little fun,” she said pulling off the scarf she had around her neck.

“Who goes first?” Lucas asked as the group stood around each other.

Riley thought about for a minute, “Rock, Paper, Scissors battle,” she said making everyone huddle in a group. “Ready,” they all nodded as she started. Lucas and Riley both lost the first match choosing scissors while everyone else picked rocks. Smackle lost the second round for picking paper while the others chose scissors.

“This is the dumbest game in history,” she said as she walked over to Riley and Lucas.

Farkle lost the next round because he picked rock while Zay and Maya both picked paper. The final match against Maya and Zay last five minutes as the two constantly picked the same options. When it came to an end Zay won, making him the first one to go. Riley tied the scarf around his eyes and put him in the farthest corner of the library.

“Alright Zay, count to one hundred,” she said walking away as he started.

The five friends scattered around the room looking for places to hide that Zay wouldn’t look. Riley settled herself in between one of the two displays that had a hollow middle big enough for her to fit in, she didn’t know where everyone else had settled but she tried to keep as quiet as possible. Every once and a while she heard the thumping of someone’s feet but she didn’t say a word. Her legs were starting to cramp when she heard Lucas ask Zay about where she could be.

“She’s the only one we haven’t found,” Zay said looking around.

“Come on guys she was never that good at hide and seek,” Maya said as she reached the pair.

“Come out Bubbles, you win,” Smackle said. Riley tried to keep herself from giggling at the fact that she had won but her legs were numb and she couldn’t move at all.

“I might need some help,” she said hoping that they would help her out.

“Where did that come from?” Farkle asked as he joined the group.

“I’m in the display,” she said trying to get their attention. Lucas pulled out the panel and revealed a scrunched up Riley. “My legs are asleep,” she said as he slowly pulled her out.

“Aww my poor poor Riley,” Maya said. “How long were you in there honey?”

“How long ago did we start playing this game?”

“Riles you’ve been in there for ten minutes, if you can walk that would be a miracle,” Maya said smiling. “You got better though so props to you.”

“I had to win one day,” she said smiling. “Ouch, my legs are doing that tingling thing.”

“Come on let’s get back to our tables before your dad comes back,” Lucas said as he picked her up like she was a princess making Riley blush.

When Lucas put her down he smiled at her and kissed her on the forehead before walking away, she couldn’t help but feel happy about what had just happened. As she rubbed her legs in hopes that they would regain their feeling her father walked into the room.

“So, what did you learn?” he said looking around the room at the six friends.

“That even when we fight among ourselves as long as we work together we can become stronger,” Farkle answered.

“That when you just sit down and talk you can learn a lot about one another,” Maya said.

“That sometimes friends have to be separated in order to learn how important they are,” Zay said.

“That war is only an action, but communication is the key for everyone to stay together,” Smackle answered.

“That sometimes you fight because you think it’s right but in the end what you think is right may not be the answer,” Lucas said.

“That friendship is the key to life,” Riley said smiling at her friends. “And sometimes even though mistakes are made it’s up to us to fix the problem before we end up in a war that divides us.”

“Good,” her father said looking at the group. “Now take your phones, give me your papers and get out of here and enjoy the last days of warmth before winter comes.”

The six friends stood up and put their arms around each other before walking out of the library, Riley thought about the last time they had been in a library and realized that it was as good as the bay window because it always helped them mend their friendships, and it made them learn to talk to each other without the façade of their insecurities.

 


	2. Girl Meets Fire

For Cory Matthews his life before he had his children was a journey, he had met his wife at a young age and against all odds he was able to keep her in his life. She was the light in my life, yes the constant jokes about his friendship with his best friend Shawn Hunter were always following him but he had kept them going. His wife Topanga had his heart and soul and he knew that she knew this. His children also held a part of his heart that he had never thought existed until his daughter Riley was born.

The year she was born made him nervous and that may have translated into how he had raised her, his son on the other hand wasn’t as protected as his daughter, it is easily seen when the two of them are next to one another. His son was freer when it came to showing his talents, while his daughter struggled, and for that Cory was fearful of how he had raised his daughter. Yet when he looked at her, as a smiling happy young lady he was still proud of the girl who would do anything for her friends. She stands up for what she believed in and makes sure that everyone had a say in what happened around them.

Then when she reached seventh grade everything started to change, when a boy came into her life and it made Cory nervous. He didn’t see Lucas as a threat, but he was reminded of what his father in law had once said to him that he hadn’t been afraid of Cory, but he should have been. Cory had taken those words to heart when the cowboy from Texas showed up in his class, and Riley had been smitten by him. With every day that passed the relationship between the two had grown and Cory’s heart couldn’t take the fact that he couldn’t be afraid of the boy, until he heard about what had happened in Texas. After that he was afraid of what Lucas was doing to his daughter’s heart. It frightened him every day because if she was willing to do what she had done, what was Lucas willing to do to make her happy.

Once the whole triangle debacle had ended, Cory’s fears grew and although he usually stayed up late to grade papers, he found himself not sleeping very well. Thoughts of boys in his daughter’s room, and dates, and kissing started to freak him out. He kept thinking that she was too young for any of that. So when his beloved wife told him to go to the doctor and talk about his problems he did what she said, because he was more afraid of his wife then he was of a doctor. After one very long session about his sleeping problem and his worries about his daughter the doctor prescribed some sleeping pills for the first week just to try them out.

Each night he had dreams about his daughter while she was growing up, about his daddy daughter dates, how they would make pancakes for breakfast. Small things that made him remember that she was a nice girl who was just growing up. Except on the night he dreamt of making pancakes with little Riley, his little sunshine, he had walked into the kitchen and started making pancakes. His wife had woken up in time to sound the alarm and pull his family out of the house.

“Cory,” she said after they had stood outside while the fire department assessed the damage. “I love you but you have to stop taking those sleeping pills. Every night you wake up in a different room. Why won’t you tell me what’s wrong?”

He sighed and looked at the love of his life, “I’m scared about how Riley is growing up, I don’t want to lose my little girl.”

She pulled him away from the kids and sat him down on a nearby stoop, “Cory she’s just fine, that girl will be taking over the world one day, you shouldn’t worry so much. She’s a good kid.”

“I know I guess I wasn’t ready, for boys, and dating,” he sighed as she put her arm around him.

“You think our parents were ready?”

“Doubt it, but they had practice before they got us,” he said thinking of their older siblings. “I guess this means that we’ll be prepared for when Auggie gets to that stage.”

“I’m pretty sure he’s already married,” she said looking over and seeing Auggie holding onto Ava while Riley watched over them. “She grows on you.”

* * *

 

Riley couldn’t believe what was happening, one minute she was in her room sleeping, dreaming of little purple cats, and flowery fields the next her mother was calling for a family emergency and there was smoke everywhere. She didn’t know the details, except that her father had started cooking in the kitchen while he was sleepwalking. She didn’t understand why it was that her father was sleepwalking in the first place. Her parents were sitting on the steps of the next brownstone talking, while Riley watched as the firefighters walked in and out of her childhood home. Once they were done they told them that the fire damage had only occurred in the kitchen and living room areas, and that they would have to replace the furniture but since the upstairs rooms were closed the smoke hadn’t reached there. Although they did recommend repainting all of the rooms and washing the sheets and clothes. Her mother worked quickly to make sure to hire people to work on the apartment so that they wouldn’t be out of their home and sent the them to get clothes to wear for a few days while the cleaners worked to get the smell out of the house.

As they went to a nearby hotel the four of them were situated in a room and exhaustion took over, as Riley fell asleep in the same bed as her little brother. They had been awake since two in the morning and it was now almost six. Both kids were excused from going to school and her parents called out from work. When they all woke up a few hours later her parents took Auggie with them to the park and Riley went to the café to get her homework from her friends.

“Riley why weren’t you in school today?” Farkle asked as she sat in her usual seat next to Lucas, her friends all looked up at her.

“Well my dad nearly burned down our apartment last night so we had to stay at a hotel,” she said.

“What?” Maya said looking around the room to see the shocked faces of their group. “How could your dad do that?”

“That’s what we’re trying to find out, all I know is that his doctor gave me these sleeping pills to help him sleep, and the next thing I know is that he’s burning down the kitchen,” she sighed thinking about her father. “I really should pay more attention to him.”

“Well maybe there’s a scientific explanation for this?” Lucas said looking to Farkle and Smackle. “How about it you two can you figure this out?”

“Knowing Mr. Matthews and his need to teach everything based on his daughter and her friends I believe that she maybe the cause of it,” Smackle said, as they all looked at her in shock.

“Do you really believe that?” Riley said feeling depressed about the possibility that she may have something to do with her father’s newest mood. “I need to talk to my parents.”

“I’ll go with you,” Maya said standing up.

“Maya a much as I would love to have you there, maybe I need to do this alone,” she said looking around at her friends. “Maybe it’s time for a little daddy daughter day.”

“Okay but call me if you need me,” Maya said hugging her best friend.

“Can you guys email me my homework please?”

“Don’t worry we will,” Farkle said as Riley stood and walked out of the café.

Lucas followed her outside and stopped her once they were away from the café windows, “Riley why didn’t you call when it happened?”

“I didn’t think about it, I didn’t even have my phone,” she said looking down at the pavement. “All I could think about was that the house was burning and getting out through the bay window.”

She hadn’t realized that she was crying until Lucas pulled her into his arms. “Everything will be okay,” he said to her.

“I didn’t want to lose my home Lucas, but it was so scary to watch all of those firefighters go in and out of the apartment, it was scary to watch my little brother as we slowly climbed down the fire escape thinking that we were going to lose everything.”

“I think you should talk to your parents about this, your dad is probably having this conversation with Auggie and your mom, maybe that’s what’s missing?”

“Thanks Lucas, and please make sure that Maya stays with you guys, I don’t want her to see the apartment until it’s fixed.”

“I’ll have Zay and Farkle distract her and keep her busy, and I’ll see you in school tomorrow. Don’t forget to call us, we’re here for you.”

Riley nodded before she pushed away from him, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and walked off to the only park she knew her parents would take her brother. She thought about how her father was always there when she needed him, but now that he was going through something she was afraid that she couldn’t be there for him.

As she walked into the park she saw her parents by the swings with Auggie, they were trying to see who got up higher, Riley couldn’t help but smile at the sight of her family being themselves. As she approached them she looked at her father and signaled for him to come and talk to her. Instead of waiting for the swing to stop he jumped off and landed on his legs before crumbling to the ground.

“I don’t think I’m young anymore,” he said as she rushed towards him.

“What made you think that you could do it in the first place?” Riley asked.

“Don’t know, I just figured I could,” he said smiling at her. “What do you need Riley?”

“I was wondering if we could talk, just you and me,” she said pulling him off the ground. He nodded and walked her over to a nearby bench as he rubbed his legs.

“Talk to me,” he said as he sat down.

“Am I the reason why you can’t sleep?”

“You got to the point really fast didn’t you,” he said looking down at the ground. She stared at him until he let out a laugh. “There may be a possibility that you maybe a piece of why I’m like this right now.”

“Daddy, I’m almost sixteen, talk to me like the young adult I’m growing up to be.”

“I just feel like I’m losing you,” he said.

“You’re not.”

“Yeah except you’re dating, and you’re always with your friends, so I remember when you were little and how we used to do things together.”

“You were sleepwalking because of the medicine, so of course you start doing things.”

“Like making your favorite pancakes.”

“And since you were asleep you nearly burned down the apartment.”

“Yeah that was my fault, the doctor says that I should probably get everything out and of course I held it in because as much as I love you, I know you’re growing up into a wonderful young lady. But I miss the small things we used to do.”

“Did this start the year we stopped getting on the cyclone?”

“Maybe, but I’ve seen you grow so much.”

“Okay how about this, once every month you and me have a little daughter daddy day, we can go to the zoo, or a museum, we can go to Coney Island.”

“What about your friends Riley, your life?”

“Just us, and maybe Mom and Auggie, we can have a family day, because we’re better together than we are apart,” she said hugging her father. “And maybe you stop taking those pills because I was so scared yesterday.”

“I will, and I think it would be great to have a family day, maybe I can get to know my daughter as she grows up.”

They sat there and watcher her mother play with her little brother, as the park began to fill with people from around the neighborhood. The sky was slowly turning pink as twilight came, it felt peaceful for Riley as she walked with her family back to the hotel they were staying at. They had dinner and talked to one another inside of their hotel room.

It took two weeks before their apartment was ready for them to go back, the living room had to be redone completely, it didn’t look like it had before. But Riley knew that this new place, was the start of helping her father get to know her. For him to have a piece of mind so he wouldn’t have to worry so much about her growing up too fast, even though she wasn’t going to change, she was already her best Riley, she just needed to learn how to keep herself from failing herself.

 


	3. Girl Meets Feminist Matthews

It was the end of September and Riley was feeling happier than ever, everyone was settling into the new school year, Maya was actually studying on occasion and now Riley was looking forward to an extra-long weekend because of the September holidays. Her first family outing was that weekend and she wanted it to be perfect, they were going to go to Amish country and stop by Gettysburg, because her father loved her paper and wanted to go.

“Hey Peaches,” Riley said as she skipped over to her best friend. “What are you doing this weekend?”

“Riles we still have three more days of school before then,” Maya said sighing. “Plus I don’t want to think about this weekend at all.”

“Why what’s wrong?”

“Shawn got something in his head about having a family weekend, he wants to go camping upstate, and I get that he wants us to get closer but why camping? Who gave him this idea anyway?”

“Yeah…” Riley looked down at her hands. “That might have been my fault.”

“How Riles?”

“Well after the fire I got to talking with my dad and suggested that once a month we have a family only thing, and well my dad must have talked to Uncle Shawn about it… so yeah.”

“And now I have to go camping, Riles we’ve talked about this, any major changes you need to consult me,” Maya said pulling Riley close. “But thank you, I guess it’s a good thing that we do more family things since he’s now my father.”

“Good for you,” Riley smiled hugging her best friend. “You deserve to be a family.”

The two of them walked off to their next classes, Riley had AP Chemistry, while Maya had Spanish. The school had assigned their classes but they still had history and art together which made Riley happy. Riley still took Spanish but during a different period because of her AP classes. She shared more classes with Farkle and Smackle than with Maya, even Lucas had three classes with her, one of which was gym, but she loved how her friends were always nearby.

As she walked into Chemistry, Riley noticed that the girls in the room were all huddled in the corner talking. Curiosity got the better of her and she walked over to see what was happening.

“Hi Sarah,” Riley said as she stood next to her classmate and lab partner. “What’s going on?”

“The senior boys have released their list of the hottest girls in school,” Sarah said looking at the list on her phone. “They rank everyone based on looks, outfits, and overall hotness.”

“Why would something like that exist? Are they even allowed to do that?”

Sarah looked over at her like she grew a third head, “Riley they did this last year, apparently it’s tradition for the senior to do this.”

“But, they shouldn’t, why should they dictate who’s better looking?” Riley couldn’t believe it why were looks so important to everyone. “Everyone is beautiful in their own way.”

“Why should you complain,” one of the other girls said. “You and Maya both are in the top twenty.”

“I don’t care, women haven’t fought for equal rights for a bunch of boys to degrade us into these stupid categories, for crying out loud we had to fight for the right to vote and even then it was only given to a few before all women had the chance to vote, we’re fighting for equality in the workplace but we’re still paid less than a man.”

“Well Riley, this is high school, it happens this way,” Sarah said as their teacher walked into the room and asked them all to sit down.

Riley sat in class working through what she had heard, she didn’t like the idea about the girls being ranked, it felt like the yearbooks all over again. She didn’t like the idea of people trying to play with her emotions and personality again, the insecurities from that year still haunt her and she was still trying to come to grips with growing into her own. When class was over she headed to her locker and felt like the whole school was looking at her. She didn’t like any of this, until one of the seniors walked by her and called her _hottie Matthews_ , while the others whistled.

When she walked over to history class she saw that everyone was looking at their phones, even though they’re not allowed to be out during school hours unless it’s an emergency, it was policy and one that almost everyone ignored throughout the year. She wished at that moment that it was more enforced than just a hearsay rule. Riley walked back out and waited for her father to show up before pulling him aside.

“I have a feeling this is going to change my lesson plan,” he said when he saw the look on her face.

“The senior boys are ranking the girls, they’re catcalling the ones on the top of the list, they’re making assumptions based on looks, and the girls who are smart are being looked at as if they’re a piece of meat and not a wonderfully smart person who would change the world,” she said slowing down. “I don’t like it.”

“Life lesson it is,” her father said before walking into the room. He saw what Riley had seen when she first walked in, a classroom full of students all on their phones talking about the list. He noticed some of the guys looking at the girls and motioning towards their phones, the only one who seemed unfazed by it all was Lucas who was staring at Riley like she hung the moon. The thought of that boy having such deep feelings for his daughter scared him but he knew that he couldn’t do anything about it.

Zay was the last one to walk into the room stopping in front of Riley and Maya, “Congrats to the both of you for making the hottie list,” he said but Riley only turned and glared at him. “What’s wrong sugar.”

“You’re what’s wrong, you and all of the boys who think it’s okay to rank girls like we’re cattle,” she said standing up. “We’re human beings Zay, how would you feel if the girls all got together and put you all on this list even though you’re more than looks?”

“Okay class time everyone,” Cory said as he watched his daughter’s expression get all fired up. “The Suffragette Movement, of the late nineteenth century in England, the early twentieth century in America, the women’s liberation movement, and the current feminist movements all have one thing in common, does anyone want to tell me why?”

“Each movement was a moment in time where women had to fight for their rights in a world that had once been dominated by patriarchy,” Smackle said smiling at Riley.

“Patriarchy,” Cory said looking at all of the girls in the room. “A system in which men would inherit everything from their family, and it would only pass down through the males in the family. A system where women were singled out to be inferior to their male counterparts, while men were educated in the highest institutions, women were taught how to entertain and run a household. Where women are essentially sold off to their husbands, as their families would offer a dowry to the husband for the marriage. These are things that women fought for during the late 1800’s and into the twentieth century, even today women are fighting against the social stigma in which men are superior in every way and women should have the babies.”

He looked around the room to the faces of his students wondering why they were alright with what was happening. “Women can have the highest education in this country, but across the world they’re being sold off to their husbands. This is a lesson that everyone has to learn because we take for granted so much of what we have, but women are still fighting every day to have the simple right to be able to have a decision over their bodies, to be able to be paid the same salary for the same work men do. Patriarchy maybe over but sometimes the lasting effects over that kind of control can still be felt.”

“Is there anything that we can do?” Lucas said in the back of the room. Riley looked at her boyfriend knowing that he was taking a stand for what his girlfriend believed in.

“We can ignore the seniors,” Riley said. “We can forget about this stupid list, we can fight for everyone to be considered equal.”

“Forgetting is an option, but sometimes forgetting just makes the problem resurface in the future,” Smackle said. “We need to fight against it for the rest of our lives, because I want to be a scientist and if I don’t get paid the same as men it would just make me angry.”

“Equality is something that we all fight for, and it’s not just a gender issue, it is also a race issue,” Cory said looking out at his students. “You may find this list amusing, but how would you feel if this list was made as a way for the government to track you? Or if they used it as a registry to see if you were a threat to the people around you. These things aren’t something we should take lightly, because in the end if someone takes your freedom away from you what would you be left with?”

The bell rang but everyone sat there looking at one another, no one knew what to say so they all walked out of the room silently. Riley stood at her locker watching her friends all look around, she knew that the list was all that anyone could talk about. It annoyed her more than anything because she didn’t know what to do.

“Riley,” Zay said walking up to her. “I’m sorry, for you know.”

“I know Zay, and you have to remember that things like that list will only hurt those who aren’t a part of it,” she said hugging him.

“Let’s get to lunch,” she said walking over to the other four friends in their group. Lucas gave her a small smile, while everyone else just looked around. “How about we fight the list with a list of our own?”

“What do you mean Riles?” Maya said finally looking at her.

“Maya were you happy that you were on the list?” Riley asked knowing that there was a reason why her best friend hadn’t looked her in the eye until now.

“Kinda, I mean it’s made by the popular guys of the senior class and sometimes it’s just nice to be noticed.”

“Do you remember in middle school when Billy Ross was bullying Farkle,” Riley said putting her arm around Maya. “And how we wrote our insecurities on our foreheads because it showed Billy that we were all struggling with something. I still have problems with being insecure but I’m working on it every day. This list brings up some of those problem.”

“Riley I think you just gave me an idea,” Farkle said smiling at them. “What if we do that again, what if we write these things on ourselves to show the seniors that they can’t single out anyone.”

“Farkle that’s a great idea, but it’s something that only the girls should write, the guys should only write their support,” Lucas said looking around.

“I saw this video on youtube where a girl stood outside in the open and asked people to write what they thought of her on her body,” Riley said remembering the video. “We should do that with all of the girls in school, write out all of the positives to show everyone that they’re as beautiful as everyone else.”

They kept talking about it throughout their lunch period, and even when they went to study at Topanga’s afterschool. Riley went out to get markers so that they would be able to have them ready the next day. She wanted this not because it made her insecure but because she knew that in a school as big as hers the fact that they only picked a hundred girls out of everyone made her realize that some girls would think that they’re not good enough. After a while those kinds of insecurities can have dangerous repercussions.

The next day she went to Topanga’s early, knowing that some of the girls from school loved to get a morning drink from there and slowly started telling them her plan. One by one each girl took a marker, they wrote affirmations on their friends, on themselves, and on strangers that they had never talked to. When she got to school she saw Lucas and smiled, his arm said proud boyfriend to a strong powerful woman. She noticed a lot of the girls walking around with words written on their arms, beautiful, strong, smart, powerful, Riley couldn’t help but be proud of the girls in her school. As word spread throughout the day, more and more girls became covered in words from their friends and their classmates. She also noticed that the senior guys were becoming nervous around them.

When she walked into her father’s class her dad had written proud father, on his hand and smiled at her.

“Thank you, daddy,” she said as she walked in.

“Thank you, Riley,” he smiled “You’re going to change the world you know that right.”

“I hope so,” she said.

“You remind me so much of your mother when she was your age, she would always fight for what she believed in.”

“Well I did get the best parts of both of you.”

“Yes you did.”  


	4. Girl Meets Sleepover

The day ended with everyone thanking Riley for boosting their self-confidence, the little project had made the senior guys regret going after the girls, most of them had apologized to her for the list. Riley skipped over to her friends smiling, her body covered in the words of others. For once her insecurities weren’t a problem, and she was able to help everyone she could.

“Someone’s happy,” Maya said as Riley smiled. “Now stop smiling it’s a little weird even for you.”

“But I’m happy Maya, and I have an idea,” she said taking a hold of her best friend before grabbing on to Smackle.

“What’s with the affection Bubbles, I’m taken,” Smackle said as Riley pulled her away from Farkle.

“Sleepover at my house,” she said. Their long weekend had officially started, and her family wasn’t leaving until the next morning so the girls could sleep over.

“Today?” Smackle said.

“Just go with it, once Riley has a thought in her head there’s no stopping her,” Maya answered.

“Yeah Smackle go with it, plus we’ve never had a sleepover just the three of us,” Riley said pulling the girls towards the hole. “Now go home grab some clothes and meet me at my house in an hour. I’m going to pick up some snacks. Maya you get the movies, and Smackle just bring your pretty self. It’s time for you to learn what girls do at sleepovers.”

“And don’t worry, most of the time Riley’s out like a light by ten,” Maya said smiling. “You can do your homework after, unless you fall asleep early too.”

“I usually stay awake until 11, some nights I don’t fall asleep until one in the morning because I’m working on something,” Smackle said looking between the two girls.

“Riley you’re so weak,” Maya said trying to hold back a laugh. “Even Smackle stays up late.”

“I live by my own set of rules so it doesn’t matter when I go to bed, but for tonight I’ll try to stay up a little later,” Riley said smiling at her friends. “So you have one hour.”

The three girls walked off in their own direction, Riley rushed to the café to grab some pastries before going to the corner store to grab chips, popcorn, chocolate and gummy bears. She smiled all the way home thinking about everything she had done throughout the day, and about how the best thing she could do was spend the night hanging out with her best girlfriends. She set up the bay window for them to sit at and watch movies, and made sure that their snacks were close by. She pulled out some facial stuff she had gotten as a gift, as well as nail polish. She wanted Smackle to have a proper girls night.

“Riley, just remember that we’re leaving around eleven in the morning,” her mother said as she finished setting up.

“Okay,” she said as she grabbed extra blankets and pillows for the floor.

“Alright losers let’s do this,” Maya said walking in.

“Please tell me you didn’t get just horror movies?” Riley asked as she walked back to her room.

“Nah, I know how you are so I got the live action versions of all the Disney movies that came out in the last five years.”

“Okay, I set everything up so we just need Smackle to get here and we’re good to go.”

The two of them set up the floor of her room so that if one of them had to sleep on the floor it wouldn’t be a problem.

“Alright let’s get this over with,” Smackle said as she walked into the room.

“Aww Smackle it’s not going to be that bad,” Riley said.

“Yeah just wait until she passes out, the real fun will begin then,” Maya said looking over at Riley who just felt astonished at the fact that her best friend would say something like that.

The three girls started with facials and the first movie, Cinderella, by the time they were done Smackle was relax and she was letting Maya paint her toe nails. They started on Maleficent, and Riley started to feel sleepy, she hadn’t realized that running around all day had tired her out. Halfway through the movie she fell asleep dreaming about being a princess, saving the prince instead of the other way around.

Maya started laughing the moment she realized that Riley had fallen asleep. “See I told you,” she said turning to Smackle. “She never lasts, the only time she has was when we marathoned Red Planet Diaries, and only because she really wanted to watch the finale after seeing all of the episodes.”

“If she knew that she would be like this why did she plan this sleepover?” Smackle asked as Maya finished painting her toes.

“Riley’s like that, she wants to have these normal moments even when she knows she’ll pass out.”

All of a sudden the boys faces popped up outside the window. “We’re crashing your slumber party,” Farkle said looking at the girls.

“Yeah, nice pj’s by the way,” Zay said as he climbed in. “Riley fell asleep, it’s only eight that’s a new record.”

“Tell me about it,” Maya said laughing. “And she sleeps like the dead so good luck waking her.”

“Ah I have an idea,” Zay said pulling Lucas into the room, making him sit next to Riley on the bay window.

“I don’t want to do this,” Lucas said feeling weird about being in the room while his girlfriend was sleeping even though he thought that she looked adorable.

Maya laughed before moving closer to pull the pillows away from Riley so that she was leaning on Lucas and not the pillows.

“Watch this,” she said as she got closer to Riley’s ear. “Hey Riley, it’s me Lucas,” she said in her best Lucas impression. “I want to be a veterinarian and I want to kiss you face.”

Lucas’ face was shocked as Maya said what he did until Riley’s face reacted by making a kissy face, after the moment passed she said his name and snuggled closer to him. Lucas looked at his friends not knowing what to do.

“Lucas,” Riley mumbled. “I really really like you.”

He could feel his face heat up, and everyone else in the room noticed.

“His ears turn red when he’s embarrassed,” Zay said trying not to laugh. “I noticed it before but man it’s really noticeable when Riley is around.”

The four of them started laughing, it wasn’t until Maya kicked Riley by accident that the sleeping girl woke up. “What’s going on?” Riley said sleepily as she slowly noticed the boys had joined them.

“Riles you fell asleep,” Maya said.

Riley moved away from Lucas embarrassed but not knowing why, she could feel her face heat up as though something had happened. Then she noticed all of the guys sitting around them and wondered why they were there in the first place.

Her door opened revealing her father, “Why do I hear…” he stopped as he noticed the boys in his daughter’s room. “Get out,” he said.

Lucas rushed out the window before Cory could take one of his shoes, but instead of stopping and yelling at the other boys he follows Lucas out the window and down the fire escape. He couldn’t let go of the feeling that something happened in that room and Lucas was the cause so he chased him down the block, but being out of shape he stopped to take a breath and lost the boy. He went back home and walked through the front door as his wife sat down on the couch with some tea.

“Cory why are you out of breath?” she asked him as he plopped himself down on the couch trying to regain feeling in his legs.

“Boys…” he started as he tried to suck in some air, “In… Riley’s… room… chased… Lucas… down… street…”

“Oh Cory, that boy is harmless, and why did you just chase Lucas, what about Farkle and Zay?”

“No… energy…”

Topanga couldn’t help but laugh at her husband, he was overly protective of his daughter especially the moment she started having feelings for the boy.

“I’ll take care of it,” she said walking away.

As she reached her daughters room she could hear everyone laughing, but Riley would constantly tell them to stop. She walked in and saw everyone on the floor laughing at what had just happened but noticed that her daughter’s face wasn’t very happy. Once again Cory had done something but this time she had a feeling that it had interrupted a moment Riley and Lucas were having. She cleared her throat so that everyone would know she was standing in the doorway.

“I understand that you are all friends, but wasn’t this a girls’ sleepover?” she said watching the laughter die down.

“Sorry Mrs. Matthews,” Maya said looking around at the group. “Alright boys out you go.”

Zay got up and walked over to the window, Farkle gave Smackle a quick peck on the cheek before following. The girls waved them off before settling back into the bay window.

“Do I even want to know what happened?” Topanga said noting the look on her daughter’s face.

“Riley talks in her sleep,” Maya said trying not to laugh. “And sometimes she also reacts, especially when it comes to Lucas.”

“She made a kissy face and told him how much she likes him,” Smackle said automatically making Riley blush.

“Boys did this,” Cory said joining his wife. “I don’t like boys, why do they have to ruin everything.”

“Come on Cory, let’s go back downstairs so I can give you the talk about the birds and the bees, and how your daughter is doing the same things we did growing up,” Topanga said pushing him out of the room while the girls giggled in the background. “Don’t stay up too late girls.”

“We won’t mom,” Riley said laughing, but as soon as her parents left she looked at her friends. “Did I really do that?”

“Yes, and it’s not the first time you’ve done it either, but it’s who you are,” Maya said pulling her into a hug. “Just so you know when Ranger Rick is embarrassed his ears turn red.”

“As red as your face when you’re showing the same emotions,” Smackle said.

Riley got up and jumped onto her bed trying to bury her head in all of her pillows. She thought about what they said, that she told Lucas that she really liked him, but he hadn’t said anything back. But he didn’t have a chance, considering her father chased him out of the room and down the block. She didn’t want to have this talk over the phone so instead she decided to put it off until they had a moment alone with each other.

“Come on let’s go to sleep,” she said.

“No one more movie,” Maya said as she settled on the bed with Riley’s laptop, Smackle on the other side.

The three girls watched Alice in Wonderland before falling asleep next to each other, it had been a nice sleepover, but Riley knew that she had missed the most important part. Even if she was only honest while she was asleep. _Another time_ , she thought to herself as she dreamed of Lucas smiling at her.


	5. Girl Meets Charlie Gardner

The Friday after their big family trip Riley was standing behind the counter at Topanga’s helping out after school. Lucas and Zay were at Baseball practice, Farkle and Smackle were at Science club and Maya had joined the art club. Riley decided that since she didn’t have a place in school to go to she would continue to help out her mother and Katy at the café. She saved up the tips she got along with the paycheck her mother gave her so that she would be able to buy presents when the holidays came up. The line from the afternoon rush had finally died down and she started busing tables.

“Can I order something?” A voice said to her.

When she looked up she saw a pair of familiar blue eyes, “Charlie,” she said smiling. “Long time no see.”

“Hey Riley,” he smiled back at her. “Yeah sorry I should have kept in touch.”

She walked over to the counter “So what do you want?”

“Strawberry smoothie, and some time with you,” he said.

“Um… I can only do one of those,” she said looking down at the keypad on the register. She rung up the smoothie and he paid still looking at her.

“Riley why don’t you take your ten,” Katy said from behind her. Riley hadn’t realized that she was wishing for more work and not less.

“Um… okay,” she said walking over to where Charlie waited. “So you wanted some time?”

“Yeah, just to talk,” he said.

“Okay, I have ten minutes,” she said hoping that Lucas didn’t walk into the café. She wanted to use the time to apologize to Charlie for everything that had happened in middle school. She realized after they had graduated and the whole triangle mess, she never truly apologized to him for using him to get over Lucas.

“So… how’s school?” he asked.

“It’s great, I have my friends, my family, and Lucas,” she said blushing the moment she said his name. He had that kind that kind of effect on her.

“So Friar finally made his move?”

“Yeah we’ve been together for almost a year now, he’s a great guy,” she said as the memory of the ski lodge came to mind. That moment still makes her heart beat fast, it gives her hope for their future. Hope that they will survive together like her parents did, that he would be that once in a lifetime relationship.

Charlie smiled at her, “Good, I actually came here to thank you.”

“For what?”

“Remember, how at your New Year’s party you told me that I deserve more, well when I decided to pick a different school from everyone else, I decided to find that one person that made me feel the way you feel about Friar.”

“Did you find that?”

“Yes, her name is Esmerelda she’s the most special person in my life, you were my first crush but she had my heart.”

“That’s great Charlie,” Riley said smiling. “I’m glad you found that, even if you had to go to a different school to find it.”

“Well I knew that if I had stayed behind I wouldn’t have found myself, I would have started to resent you, and your friends. I guess I wanted to be a part of that, but I found out that I needed to find it for myself and not just try and put myself there.”

“Well it’s good that you took the time out to do so,” she said smiling. Her ten-minute break was over so she walked Charlie to the door and gave him a quick hug. “I’m glad you found what you were looking for, and I hope that the next time you come over, you can introduce me to your girlfriend.”

“I will, thanks Riley,” he said before leaving the café. Riley went back to work cleaning up around the counter and the tables. She hadn’t noticed Lucas standing outside watching the whole interaction she had had with Charlie.

Lucas couldn’t figure out what was happening as he watched Riley smile at Gardner, it felt like being punched in the gut. When Gardner left the café he hid in the bushes by the stairs so that the guy wouldn’t see him but just watching Riley hug him felt like they had unfinished business, and Lucas was in the way of that. He didn’t know what to do so he sat outside watching her as she worked, wondering if maybe she had feelings for Charlie Gardner.

The autumn air started to chill his bones but he still didn’t move, all he could do was watch her as she smiled at customers and cleaned up. It took him a minute to realize that she was walking towards him, her sweater on, her backpack on her back. Her shift was over, he had spent two hours watching her like she was the sun warming his skin but in reality he was cold to the touch.

“Lucas what are you doing out here?” she said walking up to him. “Your hands are freezing.”

The touch of her hands on his brought him back to the present, “Am I holding you back?” was the first thing that came out of him.

“What are you talking about?” she said pulling him into the café, “Aunt Katy can I get two large hot teas to go please.”

“Sure thing Riley,” Maya’s mother said as she worked behind the counter. “I’ll put some extra honey in there too.”

“Thank you,” Riley said before looking back at him. “Talk, you were the one that always said that we will always have these big talks with one another so tell me what’s wrong.”

“I saw you with Gardner,” he said but she looked at him surprised.

“Lucas, Charlie left here two hours ago, were you sitting out there the whole time?”

“Yes, and I need to know if you still like him?”

“No Lucas, you’re the only one who has my heart, Charlie was only here to tell me something and since I haven’t seen him since middle school he decided to come here and tell me in person.”

Lucas looked up at her brown eyes and smiled. “Sorry I’m a jealous jerk,” he said.

“No you’re not,” she sighed. “I realized a while ago that you’re as insecure as I am, it took me a while to realize that, but our relationship really is about communication, and we’re still learning how to do that without hiding so much.”

Katy came over soon afterwards and put their teas in front of them, “Come on I’ll walk you home,” he said.

“Thanks Aunt Katy,” she said as they walked out. “Drink your tea, I don’t want you getting sick because you spent two hours worried about our relationship.”

He took her hand as he sipped his tea, “Thanks for taking care of me.”

“Someone has to, plus you’re always defending me, and helping me so it’s only natural that I do the same for you.”

They walked up to her building, the leaves changing around them, it was a peaceful night. He should have realized that Riley would never hurt him, she would talk to him first. He hadn’t noticed just how comfortable they had gotten until he felt threatened by the possibility of losing her again. The whole thing about her mother’s job, had messed with his heart, he couldn’t take losing her then but knew he had to. That was months ago, of course their relationship would be tested over and over again.

Riley was worried about Lucas, it was strange for him to think about their relationship as fragile as glass. She hadn’t noticed that he had been out in the cold for so long because she had been working, but she was going to tell him about Charlie the moment she got home.

“Do you want to come upstairs and study for our midterm?” she asked hoping he would say yes.

“Well I don’t have to be home until ten and we live close enough that it wouldn’t be a problem so sure, as long as we hide my boots from your dad.”

She giggled, thinking about all of his shoes that she had accumulated over the years. He had outgrown most of them so he couldn’t really take them back but she liked that he was still afraid of losing them.

“Okay,” she said as they walked into the apartment. She said hello to her parents and grabbed some sandwiches before heading to her room to sit on the bay window and study with Lucas.

They sat there for five minutes in silence before he spoke up, “So what did Gardner have to say?”

“He was thanking me,” she said looking down at her notes. “He said that my rejection at that New Year’s party made him think about finding someone to like as much as I like you, and he did. He has a girlfriend.”

“Oh, well that’s not at all what I expected.”

“Well if you had come in and asked or said hi you would have found out,” she sighed. “You can’t let your jealous side take over because in the end it would only hurt you when you find out the truth.”

“I know,” he sighed. “In a way we’re the same when it comes to that, we’re insecure to an extent, but I really do like you Riley.”

“I know I really like you too Lucas,” she said blushing. “I guess we both have work to do when it comes to matters of our hearts.”

“Well it’s a part of growing up,” he said to her.

“Yes it is, did we just give ourselves a life lesson without my dad here?”

They started laughing at that, her father had begun to rub off on them, especially if they could teach themselves something without going to him.

“Lucas,” she said looking at him. “There’s one thing we’ve never tried to do, that well I would like to try.”

“What’s that?”

“Um well we’ve kissed… but they’ve been… well pretty tame, and I thought maybe once we can try to um…”

“You want to make out?” he said looking at her and then at the door before looking back at her. He swallowed his salvia but at that moment he felt as though he didn’t have anything in his mouth.

“Well, I mean isn’t that what normal couples do?”

“We’ve never been a normal couple,” he said but when she looked down at the floor he spoke up. “We’ve always moved a little slow when it comes to what everyone else does as a couple. I think it’s because I’m always afraid that it would be too much. I don’t know. I just know that I never want to push you into doing something you didn’t want to… you know.”

She scooted closer to him and smiled. “You’re always a gentleman,” she said putting her head on his shoulder.

“Riley,” he said as he cupped her chin and made her look into his eyes. “I do want to try one thing, it’s not making out, well not entirely. But um, I need to have at least one foot out the door before I try anything.”

She laughed knowing that he was referring to her father and his need to protect his fifteen-year-old daughter from her own boyfriend.

“Come on, it’s almost ten anyway and you have to get home so you don’t get in trouble,” she said helping him pack up his backpack. He got up and walked to her door, she followed him telling her mother that she was walking Lucas to the front door.

Once they got there they both stopped and stood on the stoop looking out at the New York City night. When he took one step down the stairs she stopped him and he turned around to look at her. Before she lost her nerve she bent her head to meet his, but he stopped her before their lips met and held her face there for a moment, before slowly kissing her on the lips, she put her arms around his shoulders and deepened the kiss. It felt like a spring rain, but the instead of the rain ending and the rainbow appearing she felt the heat of the sun, and the fire of his kiss.

When they separated they looked at each other and smiled, “That was perfect,” she said to him. “I wouldn’t mind trying again if it wasn’t for the fact that I swear that my father is right behind me waiting for me to get back inside.”

Lucas took a quick look behind her and saw her father staring them both down. “I don’t think he likes me right now.”

“Wait he is behind me?”

“Yup,” he said popping the p as he said it.

“I’ll see you tomorrow… I hope… just run before he comes down here,” she said before turning around to face her father. She heard Lucas laugh behind her.

“I’ll see you tomorrow Riley,” he whispered in her ear before walking away.

Riley looked at her father and smiled. “Daddy,” she said as she walked up to him to push him back to their apartment.

“Topanga,” he said the moment he walked in.

“No,” her mother said as she stood up and grabbed him and pulled him to the table. “Cory remember your daughter is fifteen, almost sixteen, you’re not allowed to freak out anymore.”

“But they were making out,” he said.

“Ugh,” Riley said dropping down on to the couch. “That was the first time we’ve ever done that, I’m not killing a puppy daddy, I’m just kissing Lucas.”

“Riley honey, go to bed,” her mother said. “I have to deal with your father.”

Her mother didn’t have to tell her twice, she ran to her room and closed the door as quickly as she could, getting ready for bed with lighting speed, even though she couldn’t go to sleep. The memory of the kiss was still fresh in her mind.

 

* * *

 

The next day she walked into school looking for Maya who hadn’t shown up that morning to meet her. When she found the blonde she was in her father’s classroom having a conversation with him. Riley didn’t want to eavesdrop so she walked over to her locker to get her books and put her jacket inside. When she closed the door Maya was standing there waiting to talk to her making Riley scream like she had seen a ghost.

“Geez,” she said once she stopped screaming. “Give me warning next time.”

“Nope, I can’t because we don’t have a lot of time,” Maya said pulling her towards the alcove near her father’s classroom. “Did you and Huckleberry make-out in front of your dad yesterday?”

“How did you find out?”

“Matthews was calling me early this morning screaming that I wasn’t there to stop it, he thinks I have some kind of power to show up whenever you and Lucas are about to do something.”

“My dad calls you whenever I do something remotely coupley with Lucas,” Riley said trying to process the words in her mind. “How is that even possible?”

“He’s been doing it since middle school,” she said shrugging. “How do you think I got such a fancy phone in the first place, your dad is so afraid of you growing up.”

“What?” Riley screamed as she stood wanting to find her father and yell at him.

“Don’t worry Riles, I never told him anything really juicy anyway. He freaks out if you two breathe in the same air.”

“But still isn’t that a little weird?”

“Well yeah, but he loves you.”

“Maya there’s a difference between love and well this,” she said.

“Yeah except your father has always been like this, I never understood it but hey, just go with it and humor the man.”

“So what I’m not allowed to kiss my boyfriend?”

“Nope I say you just make sure he’s nowhere near you next time.”

Riley put her arms around her best friend. “Why is my life like this?”

“I have no idea,” Maya said. “Anything else happened yesterday? I got caught up in Art Club, and then I was so tired I just went home.”

“Well Charlie Gardner stopped by the café,” Riley said looking down at the ground, knowing that Maya was going to freak out as soon as the words left her mouth.

“What? Really? Oh my god what did cheese soufflé have to say?”

“Nothing really he just wanted to tell me thanks, for rejecting him. Apparently it made him want to really look for someone who would make him happy by just loving him completely, and he did he has a girlfriend.”

“He doesn’t go to this school, did he tell you why?”

“Yes and it makes sense, he’s trying to find himself. I think we all are.”

The bell rang singling the time, the two of them walked towards her father’s classroom as she saw Lucas and smiled at him. He gave her a quick kiss before they walked into the room only to be stopped by Maya who had stood in the doorway. Riley looked up to see her father glaring at the couple.

“You,” he said to the two of them.

“Be nice daddy, or else I’m calling mom,” Riley said looking at his face as horror swept through his features.

“No not Godzilla,” he said stepping back. Riley smiled at her small victory.

“Remember growing up is a part of life, and I’m growing,” she said. “You’re doing a wonderful job as my father.”

He smiled at the complement, and started class, the rest of the day went by in relative quiet from her father. Riley knew he wouldn’t accept the changes she was going through completely but she also knew that he needed to step back every once and a while. Her father was the warden of her life and if he was angry she wasn’t going to be able to do anything at all.

When she saw her father at the end of the day he was grading papers on the kitchen table, her mother was nearby so Riley knew that talking to him at that moment would be the best option.

“Daddy,” she said as she sat down next to him. “I love you, you know that right?”

“Yes I do sweetheart, I’m just afraid that you’re growing up to fast.”

“Cory, molasses moves faster than she does at growing up,” her mother said looking at them from the stove. “We were making out with each other when we were her age.”

“Topanga,” he shrieked.

“Tell me more Mom,” Riley said smiling.

“You lose Cory, let her make out with Lucas, as long as that’s all that they’re doing it should be fine.”

He sighed in defeat, “Fine, but you have a nine o’clock curfew on school nights, and ten on weekends. And I want to know where you are going before you get there and who’s going to be there.”

“Deal,” she said smiling. “I’m going to go finish my reading in my room, I’ll come down when dinner is done.”

“Okay,” her mother said. “And Riley, I need you to help out at the café tomorrow, Katy needs the afternoon off, she has a date with Shawn.”

“That’s okay with me,” she said but stopped before she moved forward. “And if you want I could babysit Auggie on Saturday so you guys can go on a date too.”

“See Cory we have a good kid,” her mother said smiling. “Now plan a date night, because I don’t know when the next one will be.”

“My women, running my life,” he said smiling.

“You love us remember that,” her mother said as she walked away laughing.


	6. Girl Meets Smarkle

“Riley,” Farkle called out from across the hallway. “Riles, I need your help.”

“What do you need help with?” Riley asked curious as to what her genius friend needed from her.

He sighed and looked around. “Well Smackle and I have been going out for two years now, and I want help planning a special night with her.”

“Aww, Farkle that’s so cute,” she smiled looking at him thinking about how cute he was with his long-time girlfriend. Remembering how the two geniuses confessed their feelings for one another earlier in the year. “I’ll would help you but shouldn’t it be something you come up with?”

“That’s the problem, I can’t figure it out at all,” he walked over to the nearby bench as their classmates walked around them. “I don’t know how to do the real romantic stuff. I want it to be special because Isadora is not your average girl. She’s the sun and the moon all at once.”

Riley couldn’t help but smile listening to him. “You love her, Farkle you’re talking all romantic.”

“So you’ll help me?”

“Yes,” she said getting up as the first bell rung. “Meet me at my house, bay window, today at seven. Don’t tell anyone.”

“Please don’t tell Maya, as much as I love her she would make fun of me because I couldn’t figure this out.”

“Maybe the bay window wouldn’t work since she would automatically show up after our study session.”

“Where should we meet then?”

“How about Barnes and Noble, we can sit in the café there and talk, or we could browse the books while we talk,” she suggested remembering that she needed a book to read for her report so it was like killing two birds with one stone.

“Alright, I’ll meet you there at seven,” he nodded as he started walking to his next class. “And Riley thanks.”

“No problem Farkle,” she said and walked off to go to her literature class.

Afterschool the six friends meet at Topanga’s and study like they usually did, while they sat there Riley thought of ideas for Farkle and Smackle’s anniversary, scribbling them on the edge of her paper. But with each idea she didn’t think it would work with the two geniuses because they were things she wanted to do with Lucas. She gave up and stood from her seat.

“I’m going to get a smoothie anybody want anything?” she asked, but the group shook their heads as they worked on their various papers. Riley walked away and ordered her smoothie, as she was waiting Smackle came up to her and looked her in the eye.

“Yes Smackle?” Riley asked getting nervous as the brunette genius stared her down.

“I need some advice, and since society states that females usually ask for help from their closest female friends I thought I should ask you,” Smackle said to her.

“Go ahead Smackle, you have my attention.”

“What does a girl get her boyfriend on an anniversary? For males it’s customary to offer flowers and stuffed toys but Farkle and I aren’t like that so I need to know how to go about getting him something that would be suitable.”

Riley felt herself getting giddy, but since this was a private conversation she instead looked Smackle in the eye and thought about the best way to go about helping both of her friends.

“Okay, you have to think of something that you and Farkle share that you love the most, something that you know would make him happy,” Riley said thinking about how well the two geniuses know each other. “You already know but you’re trying too hard to think like a normal girl. Try thinking like a Smackle.”

“Well I know that he’s been looking for two species of butterflies that are common to our area, but for some reason he cannot locate them,” she said thinking. “While they’re not as common this time of year I know of a collector who can help me find them.”

“What kind are they?” Riley asked curious to know why the geniuses loved to collect butterflies and a number of bugs.

“Well one of them is the Limenitis arthemis, it’s very blue and reminds me of Farkle’s eyes, does that sound like something a girl would say about the boy they have feelings for?”

“Yes, and it’s cute, what’s the other one?”

“The other one is a Celastrina ladon, it’s a light blue color with black around the edges, because I think Farkle has a little bit of black in his eyes.”

“Smackle I think you like making goo goo eyes at Farkle, both butterflies remind you of his eyes.”

“Is that strange?”

“No actually it’s perfect, and I think those are wonderful gifts to give him,” Riley sighed thinking how cute the pair was. “Do me a favor, when he gives them to you, tell him exactly what you just told me. In the way you told me. I think he would love it.”

“Thank you Riley,” Smackle said before rejoining their friends. Riley hadn’t realized how it had happened but she was now helping both geniuses get their perfect anniversary date. Riley noticed the time and realized that she had planned with Farkle that she would leave early so that she had time to get to the bookstore. He would leave right after, with an excuse that he had to be home and meet her there.

She told her friends that her parents asked her to take care of Auggie for a while, and she walked out of the café and rushed towards the bus stop to get on bus that would drop her off not too far from Union Square. Once there, she messaged Farkle to tell him that she was on the top floor looking at the books, and to meet her there when he arrived.

“Okay,” Farkle said as he walked up to her. “I have an idea, but I think it would be weird.”

“Tell me what you got,” Riley said as she looked at the books.

“Well you know how I have the universe on my ceiling?”

“Yeah, you know I love it.”

“How about we change the corner where the sun is and block it off to make a romantic dinner under the stars?”

“That’s beautiful Farkle, but why do you want to do that? Remember it has to be special.”

“Well I got a star near the sun named after Isadora, because she’s the star of my heart.”

“You two are so cute, how about I get you dessert from that French bakery in Grand Central, and pick up some candles for you to have lit up, you know romantic lighting, especially since you’ll be near the sun which is bright enough.”

“Okay, I could get the cook to make us something.”

“Spaghetti and meatballs,” Riley sighed. “Like Lady and the Tramp, where they both end up taking one end and they end up kissing once they reach the middle.”

Farkle laughed at her. “Riley the probability of that happening it dependent on the amount of pasta you put into the dish and even then it would be a complete mess.”

“Don’t ruin the moment with math Farkle, just go with it. How about food you can feed each other, small portions of your favorite dishes.”

“That sounds more plausible.”

“Geez Farkle, you can’t think of it logically, just think of you and Smackle feeding each other food,” she said looking at him as he started to turn pink from his thoughts. “And that’s what you’re doing.”

As the two friends continued their plans, Maya climbed in through the bay window to find the space empty. She remembered Riley saying something about taking care of Auggie but when she walked into the living room she saw the Matthews watching a movie.

“Hey where’s Riley?” she asked as she walked up to the couch.

Mr. Matthews looked up and rolled his eyes. “I’m going to bolt that window shut if it means that you guys would walk through the front door.”

Mrs. Matthews laughed before answering Maya, “She went out with Farkle, something about a book from Barnes and Noble.”

“Oh,” Maya said wondering why her best friends went out without her. “I guess I’ll go home. See you tomorrow Matthews,” she said to her teacher before walking out the front door.

When she reached the street she saw Lucas walking towards her with some flowers in his hand. He looked up and saw Maya and waved, “Hey I was just on my way to see Riley,” he said as he reached her.

“Well tough luck apparently she went out with Farkle.”

“Without telling us?”

“I think Riley is up to something, and we need to find out.”

Lucas felt weird about Riley lying about where she was, she wasn’t the kind of person to keep secrets from someone.

“What’s up with the flowers Huckleberry?” Maya asked as they walked away.

“Our anniversary is coming up and I thought I would bring her something every day, as a surprise you know.”

“Wow it’s been a year since we went to the ski lodge?”

“Yeah, but now I feel weird about this if she’s not saying anything about hanging out with Farkle.”

Maya sighed. “Just wait for her to come home, I was going to wait but I promised to be home by nine, Shawn gave me a curfew when he married my mom. As weird as it is I’m actually happy about it.”

“It’s good that you’re happy with your new father,” he said smiling.

“Yeah it is, so I’m off,” she said walking away. “Wait for Riley, she’ll be happy about the flowers.”

Lucas walked up to the Matthews brownstone and rung the bell, he announced himself and waited until they buzz him in. When the door opened Riley’s father glared at him from the other side.

“You,” he said but Lucas just smiled.

“I was wondering if it would be okay to wait for Riley?” he asked hoping that the door wouldn’t be slammed in his father.

“Sure,” her mother said. “Go wait by the bay window.”

“Thanks,” he said as he walked away. He tried not to listen to Riley’s parents argue about him being in there alone. He just wanted to know the truth about why Riley lied to him.

He sat there for twenty minutes before she showed up, she was smiling as she walked into the room and all of his insecurities vanished from the sight of her smile.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hey,” he replied remembering their signature way of greeting each other.

“Hi,” she said smiling, he knew that she was remembering the memory as well.

Riley was surprised to see Lucas waiting for her when she got home from her planning session with Farkle. She knew she wasn’t a very good liar most of the time, but since none of her friends questioned her as she left she couldn’t figure out why all of a sudden he was there.

“Lucas,” she said looking up at his green eyes. “Why are you here?”

“I came to give you these,” he said handing her flowers, making her heart swell. “And to ask you why you lied to us when you left?”

“How did you find out?”

“Maya, she said she came in and you weren’t home, and then she told me that you had gone out with Farkle.”

Riley sighed, she didn’t want to break her promise to Farkle but the promise was only to keep Maya out of the planning not to keep Lucas out. She looked at his sad face and she knew that she needed to fix this.

“Well, it’s a bit complicated, but I don’t want to lie to you.”

“Do you love Farkle?”

“Like a brother,” she said automatically. “I was helping him plan something for his anniversary to Smackle,” she finished while looking down at the flowers in her hand not wanting to see Lucas’ reaction.

“Their anniversary? Oh I forgot we share ours with theirs.”

“Ours?” Riley questioned before the realization hit her. Their anniversary was close to the genius’ couple’s anniversary. “Oh my god, how could I forget about our anniversary.”

“Well my guess is that you’ve taken on a revolution, and working part-time at the café, so that might have something to do with it.”

“I’m sorry Lucas,” she said regretting the fact that she had forgotten. She did get him a present but she hadn’t realized why she had gotten it, she just thought that the watch would look good on Lucas’ hand. She even got herself the matching on but it was when she had gone out shopping with Maya and it was on a whim. She had been waiting for the right moment to give it to him.

“Don’t be, I came over because I wanted to do a bunch of small things together with you, but if you’re helping Farkle, maybe it would be better to give you the present now, especially since I’ve been carrying it around with me for a while.”

She looked at him with hope in her heart, “Well I sort of got you something, but I had gotten in a while ago and I’ve been waiting for the right moment to give it to you.”

“Really,” he said as his eyes lit up. “I’m guessing it wasn’t an anniversary present?”

“No,” she confessed. “It was a spur of the moment thing, because I thought it would look nice on you.”

“Lucas’ you have ten minutes before you have to leave,” her mother yelled from down the hall.

“Okay,” he said as Riley realized that he had gotten her parents’ permission to be in her bedroom, she couldn’t help but blush at his courtesy towards her parents.

“Since I’m helping the geniuses maybe we can wait,” she said but he shook his head.

“I want you to have this,” he said as he pulled out a small box. It reminded her of the box he had put the jellybean in when he had given it to her. To this day she hadn’t known how long he had been carrying it around waiting for his moment, but she still help but be excited every time she remembered the moment.

Riley took the box and opened it, what she had thought was a ring box was actually a small music box. “There’s a small winder at the bottom,” he said and she automatically started winding the box.

It slowly played you are my sunshine in small tones, as each note was plucked from the spinning metal. She started to cry as she listened to it, she couldn’t help it as the tears spilled from her eyes.

“You’re my sunshine Riley,” Lucas said making her look up at him smiling.

“It’s beautiful,” she said, her voice heavy with emotion. She stood up and give him a quick kiss before walking over to her desk and opening the drawer to pull out the box she had left there so many weeks before. She walked back to the bay window and handed him the box.

 

She sighed as she waited for him to open it, inside were two watches one for her and one for him. “I saw them at a Demolition a few weeks ago, they weren’t really that expensive, but I thought that like how I gave Maya the rings, I figured that you and I could have something that was our own.”

“Thank you Riley,” he said taking out the watch and putting it on his wrist, before taking out the one for her and placing it on her wrist. “It’s perfect just like you.”

The two kissed quickly before her father burst through the door. “Get out,” he said as Lucas ran out the bay window before her father could grab his boot.

“Call me when you get home,” Riley called out the window as she watched Lucas run down the street.

“I will,” he said as he kept running.

 

* * *

 

 

“So Riley,” Maya said as she met up with Riley at the café at the end of the day. “Why did you lie to me and everyone else about you and Farkle.”

Riley sighed looking at her best friend. “I promised Farkle I’d keep a secret, because he knows how you are and he wanted this to be perfect.”

“And you aren’t the best person when it comes to moments like this,” Farkle said as he sat down. “I love you Maya but you have this tendency to gag or make fun of anything related to something romantic.”

“I’m not,” Maya protested. “I’ve grown, I like this stuff now.”

“Okay let’s watch pretty woman,” Riley said smiling at her best friend.

“No…no anything but that,” Maya protested. “Don’t let her do this to me Farkle.”

“Thank you for proving my point, but since everything is set up for tonight I will tell you,” he said.

“So what is it?”

“Farkle is going to surprise Smackle for their anniversary,” Riley smiled, thinking of everything she had helped out and was waiting with Farkle for Smackle to show up. She had told Smackle that she should dress how she normally would on a date with Farkle, so when the brunette showed up at the café she was wearing a dark blue dress, with sparkles. Riley had realized a few days before that Smackle’s favorite color was blue, because that was the color of Farkle’s eyes.

“I am here for our customary anniversary date,” she said as she greeted Farkle.

“I am ready to take you out,” Farkle said holding out his hand for her.

“Before we go I would like to present you with this, it is a gift to commemorate our relationship,” she said before smiling at him. Riley watched as Smackle blushed. The genius may not be very good at expressing emotions, but when it came to Farkle she was very good at showing how much she loved him.

Farkle pulled out the shadow box revealing two butterflies, “Smackle they’re perfect,” he said looking at his girlfriend.

“They remind me of your eyes,” she said. It was the most beautiful thing Riley could think for her to say. It was perfect.

“Gosh these two are adorable,” Maya said smiling. “Farkle what did you get her?”

“That’s a surprise I’m giving her over dinner,” he said as he took Smackle’s hand. “I have reservations at the best place in the city.”

“Let’s go then,” Smackle said.

Riley watched them walk away smiling, she was glad she had helped both of them, because they deserved nothing but the best.

“So what did he get her?” Maya asked once they were gone.

“He got her a star,” Riley said smiling.


	7. Girl Meets World of Terror 4

 “The story of the Haunted Horseman, is a legend engrained in New York history,” Cory started as his class looked on.  “The story written by Washington Irving, takes place in our own Tarrytown New York, where a young man’s life hangs in the balance.”

Suddenly Auggie walked through the door, “It’s time for another Halloween Scary Time Theater,” Auggie said.

Riley laughed as her brother walked into the room dressed as a wizard from the Harry Potter books. “Auggie, couldn’t you have waited until after school to start this?”

“No,” he said walking over to his sister. “Daddy promised to let me hear the story of the Headless Horseman.”

“Go on Dad,” Riley said as she pulled her little brother onto her lap.

“Ok,” her father said as he looked around at his students as he began the story of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. “In the bosom of one of those spacious coves which indent the eastern shore of the Hudson, at that broad expansion of the river denominated by the ancient Dutch navigators the Tappan Zee, and where they always prudently shortened sail and implored the protection of St. Nicholas when they crossed, there lies a small market town or rural port, which by some is called Greensburgh, but which is more generally and properly known by the name of Tarry Town.”

He smiles, and slowly recounts the story “This young man with an unusual name, who is chased down a wooden bridge by a Headless Horseman. The story of how this young man wants the attention of a young woman, while he’s threatened by another suitor, he does not wish to die. He’s invited to a party.”

“A party, I wanna go,” Riley says smiling.

“Uh Riles, that’s not how the story goes,” Maya said. “Go on Matthews tell her the rest.”

“Well you see Riley, this poor poor man gets rejected by the girl of his dreams, and as he walks home in tears, he is confronted by the Headless Horseman, as he’s running down the bridge trying to get to safety.”

“His head gets chopped off,” Maya said interrupting the story.

Riley lets out a scream but her father looks out and finishes the rest of the story, “No one really knows what happened to him, for the next day all that’s found are horse tracks, a pumpkin, and the young man’s hat.”

Suddenly Auggie gets up, “What if a group of friends go to test out the story of the headless horseman, and find themselves separated. A test of courage will either bring them back together, or will keep them apart. If you want to know what happens keep reading to find out.”

As Auggie finishes his speech the thunder roars outside and the lights go out leaving the class room in complete darkness.

 

* * *

 

 

“So we’re going right?” Maya said excitedly to the group as they wait outside of Topanga’s for Riley to show up. “To the town, to Sleepy Hollow.”

“Maya why do you want to go?” Farkle asked knowing it had something to do with the legend.

“I wanna see the head of this man, and Matthews said it was based on a town in New York so let’s go,” she said bouncing up and down.

“Well I’m not going,” Smackle said. “I’d rather stay away from something like that.”

“You’re going,” Maya said.

“Maya, Riley won’t like this,” Lucas said. “She can’t stand to watch a horror movie how will she survive this.”

“She’ll survive,” Maya said. “I’ll just stick her with you and that’s it.”

Lucas rolled his eyes, he didn’t know what to the only option he had was to stick as close to Riley as he could. Just then the brunette came skipping happily towards the group smiling at them.

“Riles,” Maya said as her best friend stood next to her. “So do you think we could get a ride from your parents for Halloween?”

“And where are we going?” Riley asked looking around at her friends who were all avoiding eye contact with her.

“We’re going to Sleepy Hollow,” Maya said smiling.

Riley groaned, she remembered the story from her father’s class and thought about some pumpkin throwing headless man chasing after them. Lucas squeezed her hand.

“Fine, I’ll ask,” Riley said hoping that her parents would say no. She walked into the café and saw her mother standing behind the counter.

“Oh good, Riley can you help out until the rush dies down,” her mother said as she walked up to the counter.

“Sure, but can you take us to Sleepy Hollow this weekend, Maya wanted to go there for Halloween night because she wants to see the Headless Horseman.”

“Sure, it sounds like fun, we might need an extra car so I’ll ask Josh to drive his car up too,” her mother said, at the sound of his name Riley looked over to see Maya smiling to herself. Riley all of a sudden realized that her best friend had an ulterior motive for the trip.

“Yeah, ask Josh,” Riley said emphasizing her uncle’s name.

Riley worked for two hours, stopping by her friends every once and a while to glare at her best friend who had used her to get some time with her uncle. She knew that the two were playing the long game, and it had been months since Josh visited because he had taken a summer internship in Philly instead of staying in New York. But for Maya to do this just to see him, and use her fear of scary things just made her angry. When the rush began to die down, her mother called her over to tell her that Josh was willing to drive them up, and that they would take Auggie, Ava, and Doy with them for some of the kids’ activities.

When Riley got home an hour afterwards she was exhausted from working and doing her homework all at the same time. She plopped herself on her bed and fell asleep dreaming of headless men, and screaming as she ran down a rickety old bridge.

The lighting lit up the sky, “How would a night in this small town change their lives?” Auggie said as he walked into the room. He was now dressed as Dracula, with a little bit of blood dribbling from the side of his mouth. “Will friendships be tested? Will Riley ever get over her fears? Who knows what will happen, muahahahaha,” he said as he walked away.

 

* * *

 

 

Saturday afternoon came around, and the group was meeting up outside of the café so that they would make their journey to the town of Sleepy Hollow. Maya had made sure that they had tickets for everything they needed, as well as a list of things to do. Riley found herself playing with the hem of her dress, they had all decided to dress as people from the early nineteenth century, so that they would be close to what the people in the era looked like. Although their outfits varied so that it was more comfortable to walk around. Riley’s dress only went down just below her knees and she was wearing flat boots because she didn’t want to be cold. But she was nervous about doing this because she didn’t know what to expect.

Auggie, Ava, and Doy were all wearing variations of the steampunk outfits that her friends had worn during seventh grade, using the accessories that Riley had from that year. Her parents were the only ones not dressed for the occasion. Josh had pulled up outside and Maya automatically called shotgun in his car, with Zay, Farkle and Smackle in the backseat. Lucas was riding with them in her mother’s car which was bigger than her father’s sedan and more comfortable.

“Don’t be nervous Riley,” Lucas said smiling at her, but instead of nerves for one thing, her heart sped up from him holding her hand.

“Alright Kids, off we go,” her father said from the front seat.

It took just over an hour for them to get to Tarrytown from the city, and they were lucky to have found parking in the center of town. The night was slowly descending on them, as the street lit up with jack o lanterns, and gothic street lights. The town itself looked like something out of a postcard for the season, as fall leaves fell around them, and kids ran down the street cheerfully screaming.

“Okay, meet us back here by nine,” her father said. “I ain’t walking into that cemetery to get you and I will leave you here.”

“Whatever Matthews, you’re just being a scaredy cat,” Maya said as she began the decent into where the first attraction was. The haunted hay had been sold out so they had opted for the walk through the cemetery while there was still light out. Her parents were taking the three smallest of their group towards more family friendly activities as the group of seven made their way towards the cemetery.

“Why is this walk so long?” Maya said as they descended a long hill.

“Because we opted to park where there was parking, and it was far away,” Josh answered as they all made the trek down.

“But still,” Maya whined.

Riley didn’t care because she was with her friends, and she was determined to not be scared. Suddenly a black cat ran in front of them and Riley couldn’t help but tighten her grip on Lucas’ hand.

“It’s okay,” he said to her and pulled her forward. As they finally reached the bottom of the hill a church stood out in the distance, as crows flew overhead. A stone bridge next to it, Riley sighed in relief thinking that the bridge from the story was somewhere else, far far away from where they were.

“Look dearest,” Smackle said pointing to the sign. “This is the bridge that the headless horseman crossed before he killed Crane.”

Riley squeaked as the genius girl said it, “I thought it was a wood bridge?”

“At one time but now it’s stone,” Farkle said. “And look there’s the headless horseman coming out of the cemetery.”

Riley screamed as she saw the figure on the horse slowly come towards them and turned to run forgetting she was holding onto Lucas’ hand.

“Riley,” he said pulling her close. “It’s just a guy in a costume, you don’t have to be scared.”

“Sorry,” she said looking around to her friends only to notice that Maya and Zay had ran towards the figure on the horse and started taking pictures. Josh ran after them laughing at Maya who had started posing in front of the horse. Smackle and Farkle walked off towards the historical sign to get a better look, leaving Riley and Lucas alone.

“I guess they’re used to my freak outs now, aren’t they,” she said feeling a little sad.

“Don’t worry Riley, you can start the revolutions, and I’ll protect you from the scary monsters that pop out at night,” Lucas said smiling at her. “Come on let’s go, I hear one of the biggest attractions here is the grave of the author.”

“Washington Irving is buried here,” she said surprised. “He’s buried in the town her wrote about, wow that’s something.”

The pair waited by the shop table, looking at all of the shirts and figures set up, while Maya giggled as she took pictures with the horseman. Sometimes posing as if she was going to get her head cut off, while Josh took the pictures and Zay tried to save her. The three of them were laughing at each other’s antics, which made Riley smile, but also worried her because no matter what her best friend was in love with her Uncle Josh, and he insisted on them waiting until she was old enough.

“Maya,” Riley called out. “We have to go through here.”

“Alright,” Maya said as she grabbed onto both Josh and Zay and dragged them over. Smackle and Farkle we behind them.

They hadn’t paid for the tour because Maya wanted to explore the cemetery so they had to grab the maps from the table and head in. Riley watched Maya bounce up and down as she went inside next to Josh. Maya wasn’t happy about being there with Josh as much as she was about walking through a cemetery at night like it was one of her favorite horror movies.

Instead of following everyone else, Maya led them further down the path because she wanted to look inside of the mausoleums that were spread out throughout the place. All of a sudden they head the sounds of horseshoes pounding on the pavement, and the headless horseman sitting on top. He didn’t look like the regular guy who had sat on the horse earlier, the pumpkin glowed, and he had his sword drawn. He was headed straight for the group.

Riley screamed and ran as fast as she could in the opposite direction, not realizing that she had let go of Lucas’ hand. She kept running scared that the man on the horse would catch up to her. Her friends all noticed what she had seen and ran a well everyone taking off in a different direction, the genius couple running towards the front entrance, Lucas trying to run after Riley, Josh, Maya and Zay running towards the sounds of people.

After a few moments they had all gotten separated from one another, leaving Riley and Lucas alone in the darkest part of the cemetery. Riley hiding and Lucas unsure of where she was. Maya had ended up being left behind as well because of her short legs, she couldn’t keep up with the boys. She ended up near a pillar with an angel with a raised arm staring out over the graves it was near. Josh and Zay were also separated from each other, Zay had made it to where Smackle and Farkle were standing, in a crowded area near the church at the front of the cemetery.

“Where’s the rest of them?” Farkle asked as Zay approached.

Zay tried to suck in some air before answering. “We all got separated, I guess because Riley got so scared we all kinda freaked and ran off in different directions.”

“Why is she so scared of a man in a costume anyway?” Smackle asked, Zay shrugged but Farkle sighed, he knew something like this would happen. Maya’s love of all things scary is what drove them to going into the cemetery in the first place.

“Riley doesn’t like scary things, and I’m not talking about the horrors of the world, just the horrors made up in movies,” Farkle said looking around to see if their friends had made their way towards them. “Maya loves this stuff, but usually watches it without Riley because she knows how scared she gets. The only reason Riley sees them now is because she holds onto Lucas as hard as she can while hiding behind his arm.”

“She doesn’t want to be left out when we all go out to see these movies,” Zay said knowing that it was the only reason Riley tolerated going to the movies was because she didn’t want to be left behind as her friends hung out together.

“Should we go find them?” Smackle asked looking at the two boys.

“No,” Farkle said. “As much as I would like to, I think Riley has to get through this to get over her fear of horror movies.”

At the other end of the cemetery Riley was hidden behind a tree, her heart was pounding in her chest as she tried to catch her breath. She didn’t know how fast she ran, but just as she reached the tree she tripped on something on the floor and fell to the ground. Her knee was bleeding and it stung, her hands were covered in dirt and she felt like crying, wishing she hadn’t agreed to go on this outing.

Maya was at the other end of the cemetery looking towards the lights, she hadn’t realized that she hadn’t gone in that direction. They had all ran because Riley screamed, and Maya realized that it had been stupid to run away from a guy in a costume. Now that she was alone, and tired from running in her costume, she didn’t know what to do. She was more afraid for Riley, she was feeling guilty for forcing the trip on them knowing that if someone didn’t hold on to her best friend and something went wrong it would be her fault. Yet the moment they had gotten close to the cemetery Maya had forgotten all about Riley, with Josh so close and the headless horseman nearby. It was all of her favorite things rolled all into one, the scary stuff, and the boy she liked the most.

She looked at her phone only to realize that the battery was dead, “That’s weird I was sure I charged it before I left the house.”

Maya knew that she should head towards the lights and find her friends, but instead she decided to walk off in the direction that Riley and Lucas had run. She wanted to find her best friend and apologize for leaving her behind.

Lucas had lost Riley, he tripped as he had chased after her and fell to the ground. He hadn’t realized that when she was scared of something, Riley could run faster than anyone on the baseball team. He pulled out his phone so that he could call her only to realize that he had left it inside of the Matthews’ car. He remembered taking it out to take a picture with Riley and had thought that he had put it back in his pocket but it had stayed on the seat instead. Lucas was scared, not for himself but for Riley, he had purposely held onto her hand because he knew how she wasn’t fond of the scary stuff. It was one of the things he found cute about her, but at that moment it frightened him because she was now lost. Instead of going in the direction of the lights he had decided to keep going, Riley had run straight ahead which meant that he could keep walking and eventually find her.

Josh had made it to the other side of the church from where Zay had gone, he had gotten caught up in a group of people who were all looking at the oldest graves in the place. He spotted Riley’s friends nearby but he didn’t see his niece, or Maya, or even the cowboy. Sighing he turned around and made his way back towards where they had run from looking around for the blonde head of Maya which he knew he would be able to see in the dark. He had been the oldest one in the group so it was up to him to keep them together and instead he had run off scared like everyone else had.

As the three of them walked towards the center of the cemetery, Riley huddled herself and cried, the adrenaline in her body was gone and all that was left was a shaky feeling. She ran on instinct not realizing that she had let go of Lucas, and ran away from everyone in a dark place only lit by lanterns as it slowly got darker around them. She knew she was being a big baby about this, but she really didn’t like horror movies or anything involved because even though it wasn’t real it played into her real fears.

She slowly stood up and looked around, the only light she could see in the distance came from the church and she knew that she had to make her way there to find her friends. Most likely that’s where they were headed in the first place.

The four teens walked off, all in search of each other, Josh found Maya not too far from where they had started her blonde head looking around. He knew she was trying to find Riley so when he walked up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder she yelped before turning to him as if he were there to cut off her head.

“Josh,” she shrieked at him. “Don’t do that.”

“Sorry,” he said, wanting to hug her but holding back. “Have you seen Riley and Lucas?”

“No,” she said looking at the ground.

Maya’s heart was pounding in her chest for two reasons, the first was the scare that Josh had just given, and the second was the fact that he was so close she could smell him. She really liked him but he was adamant about the age difference so she didn’t push the issue. At the mention of her best friend she had begun to worry, it wasn’t like Riley to run off from the group, but if she was scared who knows what she had been thinking.

“Come on let’s go find her,” Josh said taking her hand in his. Maya felt her heart jump at the contact, they hadn’t been this close in a long time. The two of them walked off hand in hand to look for the girl who had brought them together in the first place.

Lucas was looking down at the ground hoping that Riley had left footprints or something in the ground for him to follow but the dirt was so dry that if she had he wouldn’t be able to follow. When someone put their hand on his shoulder Lucas felt his skin jump on end as she tripped over his own feet and fell to the ground. Riley’s laugh bringing him to his senses.

“Riley,” he said as his heart hammered in his chest.

“Found you,” she smiled. “Sorry I let go of your hand and ran off.”

“It’s okay,” he smiled as he got up and pulled her into his arms. “I would have looked for you all the way to the ends of the earth.”

Riley had found Lucas by luck, it had gotten so dark out that she could barely see in front of herself, but she noticed his shadow as she walked and knew automatically that it was him. She had his shadow memorized from all of the times they had gone to the movies and she clung to his arm when the scary parts had started.

The two of them talked as they walked towards the light, as a way to keep her spirits up and to keep her from getting scared. The town they were in was different from the city, there were no big buildings and lights everywhere. It was quiet but you could hear voices in the distance from the crowd that had gathered in front of the church. Riley still held on tight to Lucas, but mainly because her leg was hurting and the cut stung as it rubbed on her stocking.

“Found you,” Maya said startling the pair. Riley jumped and hid behind Lucas as Maya and Josh started laughing.

It took a moment for Riley to notice that the pair in front of her had their hands linked, and it didn’t bother either one. She smiled at the fact that Maya was getting something so normal and sweet for once. Even though it wouldn’t really last when they got back to the city, but she had gotten a moment with Josh.

The four of them walked back to the church, Josh let go of Maya’s hand once they reached their friends, but he occasionally smiled at the blonde. Riley noticed the small smiles that the two shared, and hoped that one day it would lead to them getting closer. Even if it still weirded her out that Maya would be her Aunt. They walked back to where they had left her parents, everyone chatting about what had happened. Zay making fun of Riley for running off as Smackle and Farkle laughed. Every time it came up Lucas would kiss her on the forehead and made her forget what had happened.

Inside the Matthews home hours later, Auggie looked through his bag of candy and smiled. The room around him darkened and he looked up.

“I hope you enjoyed another Halloween story,” he said before taking a bite from a candy bar and laughing out loud.


	8. Girl Meets Friday Night Party

There was a party at the house of one of Lucas’ and Zay’s teammates after their baseball game on Friday and Riley wanted to go, but she was certain of one thing and that was her father’s inability to actually let her do anything that would keep her leaving the house for anything that wasn’t school, the café or Maya’s house. But she knew from experience, and a little tatter tot, that lying was never the answer so she worked on gathering up the courage to ask her parents for permission to go to the party. As she walked back and forth in her room she realized that the only thing she could do was outright ask them and hope that they would be okay with it.

She walked into the living room to see her parents sitting in front of TV watching and episode of 20/20 they had on DVR from last Friday, since they had gone out on a date and missed it. Riley knew that her parents loved that show, and 60 minutes. They never missed an episode, and they always waited until her brother was asleep to watch it because they didn’t want to be disturbed.

“Mom… Dad,” she said as she stood by the couch. Her father engrossed in an exposé they were showing, her mother looking at her really quickly.

“Yeah Riley,” her mother said smiling. “Is there something you need?”

“Well yeah, there’s a party for the baseball team on Friday… and… well I want to go, and I thought I should ask now since I just got the invite.”

“Yeah, sure whatever,” her father said too engrossed in the show to actually notice what she was asking. Her mother nodded and kept watching the show along with her father. Riley couldn’t figure out if they paying attention to what she was asking or paying attention to the show, but she knew one thing, and that was that they had given her permission.

She ran to her room and sent Maya text saying that her parents had said yes, Maya was more surprised than anything because she was sure that she would have to stuff a fake Riley into the bed and sneak her out.

When Maya came over the next day to pick her up for school Riley had walked out as quickly as she could. She didn’t want to give her parents the chance to change their minds about letting her go.

“I can’t believe they said that it was okay,” Maya said as they walked towards their school. “Seriously did you ask them while they were sleeping?”

“No I asked them while they were sitting on the couch watching TV,” Riley smiled. “It’s so weird that they would say yes though, and now I’m afraid that they would change their minds.”

“It’s a good thing that the pep rally is during your dad’s class because otherwise we would be in for a lesson about this, and he would probably tell you that he didn’t want you to go.”

The two of them walked into the school and dropped their stuff off at their lockers before going off to their first class. Riley kept her head down most of the day, answering questions from her teachers when she could, but always afraid that her father would burst through the door and tell her she wasn’t allowed to go to the party. The pep rally for the baseball team started, they were in the finals as the season was winding down and the school was excited.

Lucas had finally found his groove in baseball after tryouts, and both him and Zay had gotten better. Farkle joined the team but only as the team manager, helping the coaches figure out the plays and to help with the training regime for the team. Together, the team was stronger and it made Riley smile that they had all found a rhythm in something sports related. Her three best guy friends were as close as she and Maya were, and Riley hoped that she would be able to bring out Smackle more often now that her boyfriend was on the team as well.

The game was after school, and the party was an hour after the game ended, so it didn’t give Riley a lot of time to prepare. She had dressed like she would on any normal day and figured that it would be good enough for a party. She went to Maya’s place so that Maya could change, because Maya didn’t want to wear the same clothes she had on all day for the party. Unlike Riley, Maya had already gone to a couple of these parties, usually with Zay. Lucas normally spent his Friday’s with Riley even after a game.

“What happens at these parties anyway?” Riley asked as she watched Maya pull out a bunch of different clothes from her closet.

“Normally just dancing, some people go off to make out, others just talk,” Maya said as she pulled out a pair of black jeans and a red top. “Riles, you’ve thrown parties like this, except these are a little more intense since half the school shows up.”

“So nothing bad happens?”

“Not really, not that I’ve seen, usually I’m dancing with Zay, or if Farkle and Smackle come I try and teach Smackle how to have fun. It gets a little weird there.”

“Okay, I guess,” Riley said looking at her outfit and back at Maya who looks like a goddess. Riley wondered if she would ever get used to feeling like she wasn’t pretty enough, or trying enough, she felt like she was always one step behind her best friend.

Maya grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door, the two of them smiling as they waved to Shawn and Katy, as they closed the door behind them. The rest of their friends met them by the train station, though they weren’t taking the train. The station was the closest meeting point to where they were going.

The party was at a brownstone, farther east towards the river, so they walked, Maya and Zay in the front since they had been to a party there before, Farkle and Smackle behind them. Riley stayed towards the back taking in the neighborhood, even though she had lived in New York her whole life it was still amazing to see all of the buildings. Lucas watched her smiling as she looked around. They could hear the party before they had even gotten close, the sound was muffled, but every time the door opened the sound blasted into the neighborhood. What Riley had thought was a going to be a brownstone like hers turned out to be more of a single unit house surrounded by trees. She had never seen it before, but apparently it had always been there hidden from sight.

“Alright kids,” Maya said smiling at them. “It’s time to party.”

Zay and Maya both walked in and started dancing, Farkle twirled Smackle around, while Lucas hung back looking at Riley.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, it’s just that this is the first time I’ve come to one of these,” she said. “I guess I don’t know how to act.”

“Let’s just dance, that’s all we have to do,” he said as he pulled her to the living room where everyone was dancing.

After a while she was starting to feel fine about being there, it was just like a school dance, and Lucas was with her so it hadn’t mattered. When she got thirsty she walked off looking for anything to drink and saw a group of people by a table grabbing cups of soda. She walked over and poured herself one and picked it up noticing that it smelled weird before someone slammed into her making her fall to the ground, as the drink landed on her clothes.

Maya walked over to Lucas worried, “Hey where’s Riley?”

“She went to get something to drink,” he yelled the music was too high for him to speak normally. “I was going to join her, but I had to go to the bathroom.”

“We have to find her now,” Maya said.

Lucas looked worried as he looked around the room, looking for his girlfriend. “Maya what’s wrong?”

She turned around to look at him, “Um… someone spiked some of the drinks,” she said a worried look washed over her face. “There’s a couple of college guys here, and they were talking about trying to get the girls drunk.”

Lucas felt nothing but worry and anger, he was worried about Riley who he knew he shouldn’t have left alone, and he was angry that a couple of college guys came to a high school party in order to get with a couple of under aged girls. He saw Riley at the other end of the room sitting down on the floor, her clothes were soaked in something but she was just fine.

Riley couldn’t believe it, just as she had grabbed her drink a bunch of guys pushed into her and made her spill everything on her clothes. Her skin felt sticky, and her clothes smelled weird.

“Riley,” she heard Lucas call out. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she said as he pulled her up.

“You didn’t drink that did you?” Maya said but Riley just shook her head. “Good, some guys spiked the drinks. I talked to Kevin, the guy who’s throwing the party and he told everyone not to drink anything.”

Riley sighed, “That’s why my clothes smell weird.”

“Yeah, why don’t we get you home, and get you cleaned up,” Lucas said. “I’d rather spend the night watching something stupid than be here anyway.”

For once, Riley thought that was the best idea too except she couldn’t go home smelling like alcohol. “I can’t go home like this,” she said to them.

“We could climb through the bay window,” Maya said thinking up a plan. “Most likely my mom and Shawn would still be in the living room and they would tell your parents.”

“I’m trapped aren’t I,” Riley said worried about what to do. Her parents were friends with all of her friend’s parents so it made it impossible to go anywhere without them finding out about her smelling like booze.

“Riley you didn’t do anything wrong,” Lucas said. “I will tell them that, Maya will tell them that, so let’s just go to your house and walked through the door like anyone else.

“Okay,” she said as they walked out.

Maya ran back inside to grab Zay, who was flirting with a senior, and Smackle and Farkle who had walked off to the side and started talking about theories. After explaining what happened, the group decided to all walk Riley to her house, it was after ten when they got there but Riley still didn’t want to go inside afraid of what her parents would say.

“Riley,” Maya said looking at her best friend. “Don’t worry too much. We have your back.”

With that they all walked up the steps to Riley’s apartment, Lucas holding her hand trying to reassure her that everything would be alright.

 


	9. Girl Meets Mom and Dad

Riley opened the front door to her apartment only to be greeted by her parents who were sitting down on the couch. Her father looked worried, she knew that he had been biting his fingers, he sometimes did when he was worried about something. When they noticed the door had opened and the six teenagers stood in the entryway both of them jumped up and ran over to Riley.

“Where have you been young lady?” her father said as he stood in front of her. As she was about to say something he started again. “Do you know what time it is? Your curfew was two hours ago.”

“Riley why do you smell like alcohol?” her mother said. “Where were you?”

“Do you know you know how worried we’ve been…” her father stopped as the words her mother had said had finally sunk in. He walked up to her and smelled her. She was about to defend herself when he looked at her disgusted. “Young lady you’re grounded,” he said without hesitation or even listening to her.

“But,” she said but he shook his head.

“No, one month, you go to school and come straight home, and if you have to stay at school after classes are over you will wait for me to drive you home,” he said looking around at her friends. “No one is allowed to come over for the next month, not even Maya. Now give me your phone.”

“But sir, it’s not what you think,” Lucas said but her father pushed them out the door. “I’m locking your window too. With nails if I have to but no one is allowed to come over at all.”

“You heard your father Riley,” her mother said. “Go wash up and get ready for bed.”

“So that’s it, I don’t get to say my side of the story,” she said.

“You broke the rules you pay the price Riley,” her mother said. “Now go.”

“I can’t believe this, I didn’t do anything wrong at all,” she said as she pulled her phone out and slammed it on the kitchen table before storming off towards her room.

Just as she got there she saw Maya waiting at the bay window looking sad, but her father walked into her room with a hammer and started nailing the window shut. Riley didn’t know what to say as she watched her father slowly locking her into her room. She was trapped and she didn’t know what to do. She grabbed her pajamas and went to the bathroom to wash up, while she was in there she sat on the side of the tub waiting for the water to heat up and she felt the tears come on.

It had been a nerve wreaking day, they had given her permission to go, she was dancing happily while she experienced something that was so normal for a high school student. Then those college guys showed up spiked the drinks and it ended up all over her clothes only to come home and get grounded for something she had gotten permission for.

She did the math in her head and realized that if she didn’t fix this her birthday would be ruined. Sixteen was supposed to be the best birthday of her teenage years outside of her eighteenth but instead it was now going to be just another day. No party, no friends, no happy memory, instead she was going to be isolated. She was going to miss the final game of the season for Lucas and Zay, the science fair for Farkle and Smackle, and the annual art show for Maya. These were moments she didn’t want to miss, but most of all she was going to miss the big winter dance.

When she finished getting cleaned up she went to the laundry room and put her clothes to wash so that they wouldn’t smell in the morning. When it was done washing she put them in the dryer and left the machine working as she walked back to her bedroom and closed the door, locking it for the first time in her life. When she looked over at her window she saw that her father had also drawn the blinds leaving her without the lights of the city she loved so much. She cried herself to sleep for the first time in a long time, the last time she had done so was in the middle of the whole triangle mess when she was afraid of losing both Maya and Lucas. Most of all she was afraid of losing herself, now she was trapped between the truth and her parents and it hurt.

* * *

 

Maya was angry at the Matthews for the first time in her life, even in the middle of the mess that had happened the year before, even when the threat of them moving to London, she hadn’t been angry. They were always listening to their problems, always helping all of them in their own way, but tonight they had lashed out on Riley without even listening to her. As Maya walked into her apartment and slammed the door she saw her Mother drinking a glass of water and walked over and hugged the woman who had been there for her, through everything. Her mother hadn’t always been around but Maya had come to understand her better since she married Shawn, they had gotten closer and Riley had been the reason for that.

“What’s wrong baby girl?” her mother said as she hugged her tight. “What happened? Talk to your momma.”

“I’m angry at the Matthews,” Maya said not wanting to let go.

“Why is that?” Shawn said walking into the kitchen. He kissed her mother before giving Maya a quick kiss on her head. It had felt so normal, they had become a family over the last year and for once Maya was happy that she had someone to be her father.

“They grounded Riley,” Maya said.

“But Riley never does anything,” Shawn said looking her in the eye. “She’s the most innocent little bird out there.”

“Well apparently they weren’t going to listen to her explanation about what had happened tonight. They were so angry at her for not being home by curfew ever though she had asked permission to go to the baseball team’s party.”

Her parents looked at one another, it was still weird to think of them as that because for a long time it had just been her mother and her, but Shawn fit perfectly even in their small little apartment where the walls sometimes leaked.

“Tell us what happened,” her mother said boiling water on the stove for tea. Her mother always thought that tea would fix everything, it was something her grandmother had instilled in her and something Maya knew she would do the same when she got older.

“Well…” Maya started going into the details of the party, Riley getting permission, and even the fact that a couple of college guys had crashed the party and spiked the drinks. She told them about Riley being pushed to the ground spilling her drink on her dress and falling to the ground, and how they decided to leave the party before anything happened to any of them. Kevin had told them that he was going to break up the party when he had heard about the party crashers and the drinks so they had gone to find Riley and Lucas. When she was finished she was even more angry at the Matthews for not listening at all.

“I think I found out where everything went wrong,” Shawn said as he drank from his tea. “Riley told her parents about the party while they were watching 20/20 and knowing her parents they weren’t really listening.”

“Cory and Topanga not listening to someone, that’s rare,” her mother said looking at her husband.

“It’s this weird thing, in college they never missed either show, even while the rest of us went out to parties, or clubs. It was their thing, they’d cuddle and watch the show.”

“Do you think Riley knew that?” Maya asked wondering if her best friend had used it to her advantage.

“Doubt it,” Shawn said. “I only found out by chance, and knowing Riley she’s usually asleep when they’re watching the show.”

“I think they should have listened to her,” her mother said. “It’s rare for that girl to do anything wrong, she’s the most innocent kid I’ve ever seen.”

“I know,” Shawn said. “I didn’t think I’d see the day where I out parented my best friends. We knew Maya was going to the party, we knew Riley was going. Isn’t her backpack still here?”

“Yeah,” Maya said. “It’s in my room.”

“Here’s what I think we should do,” he said looking at his girls. “I’ll go over there tomorrow and drop off Riley’s bag, since Maya isn’t allowed anywhere near her, and I’ll go knock some sense into those two.”

“Can you really do that?” Maya said looking hopeful for the first time.

“I hope so,” he said sighing.

“Thanks daddy,” she said before getting up. She looked back to see them looking at each other.

“She called me Daddy,” Shawn said. It wasn’t the first time she had done it but Maya knew each time she did he would get excited, they had become a family because of Riley. So for once she had to do something to help her best friend, even if that thing is in the form of Shawn.

 

* * *

 

 

Riley didn’t wake up until noon, she hadn’t fallen into a deep sleep until after six in the morning, she cried until there were no tears and when that had happened she had sat there in the darkness wishing for the sounds of the streets of the city. She didn’t want to go to the kitchen to get food because in the end she would have to face her parents, but she knew that if she didn’t use the bathroom she was going to be in trouble.

She went down the hallway to the bathroom and fixed herself up, but when she looked in the mirror she saw her face and it made her sad. Her eyes were puffy and red, her face was slightly blotched and she had a piece of tissue stuck to her face. She washed up and brushed her teeth, automatically feeling a little better. She walked to the kitchen to get some food and saw her parents sitting at the table. Riley didn’t say a word to them and they just looked at her disappointed, it hurt her so much to see that look on their faces because she had worked so hard to make them proud and in one instant it was all gone.

As she worked on making herself a sandwich the buzzer sounded, not long after Shawn’s voice came over the intercom. Her father buzzed him up before turning to Riley.

“Go to your room,” he said. It was the first words out of his mouth and it had just angered her.

“Why it’s only Uncle Shawn,” she said defensively. “It’s not even my friends.”

“Riley, Shawn is Maya’s father now, so she might be with him,” her mother said. “So go to your room.”

Riley picked up her food and rushed off to her room, she couldn’t believe how irrational her parents were being about everything. She sat at the bay window with her food untouched, when she noticed something peeking through the blinds. She pulled them up and saw that someone had written all over the window, they were small messages of hope.

_Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness ~ Euripides_

It took her a minute to realize who’s handwriting it was, she hadn’t known when Lucas had come over but he wanted her to have a little piece of himself. Behind the quote the fire escape had been filled with fall colored flowers and small pine trees, she knew Farkle and Smackle had picked the flowers, because it was getting colder outside and these flowers were thriving. There were little cartoon versions of all of her friends around all of the flowers, she knew that Maya had done that. Zay had set up a little outdoor stereo, it was playing soft music that wouldn’t be heard anywhere else but she was able to hear it.

“They love me,” she said smiling.

Downstairs Shawn, along with Maya, Farkle, Smackle, Zay, and Lucas all burst into the Matthews’ living room. Everyone was angry but none of them wanted to show it because they wanted to present a united front, especially since Topanga was a lawyer.

“Why are you all here?” Cory said as he watched them all file into the apartment. “Riley isn’t allowed to see anyone, she’s grounded.”

“Hi Cor,” Shawn said knowing that if he distracted his best friend long enough it would make him forget the five teens who had followed him into the apartment.

“Hi Shawn,” he said. “Why did you bring them here?”

Lucas stepped forwards to face his girlfriend’s father. “We’re here to argue the case of the state versus Riley Matthews.”

“Lucas this isn’t a courtroom, and this isn’t up for negotiation,” Topanga said looking over at the teens. “Go home, she’s grounded.”

“Why,” Shawn said looking at the two of them. “Why did you ground your daughter? Did she do something that was wrong? Did you let her argue her side of the story?”

“What are you getting at Shawn?” Topanga said. “I know this is all new to you but we know how to parent our children.”

“I don’t doubt that, except in this instance,” he said. “So hear them out.”

“No,” Cory said.

“Cory, the faster we do this the faster we can get this over with,” she said forcing him to sit down. “Go ahead.”

“We call forward, Lucas Friar,” Shawn said making the teen sit in front of the Matthews.

“Tell us your story,” Topanga said.

Lucas swallowed his saliva and nodded. “Riley didn’t drink anything at the party, the reason why her clothes were wet is that when she went looking for soda someone had bumped into her spilling everything on her clothes.”

Topanga looked over at Cory worried that they hadn’t listened to their daughter only jumping to conclusions. She sighed before saying anything, “This doesn’t excuse the fact that she was out pass curfew or the fact that she went to a party where there was alcohol.”

“Next,” Shawn said. “Farkle Minkus.”

Lucas stood up and looked at Farkle, hoping that the genius had better luck. Farkle patted his shoulder before sitting in front of the Matthews.

“The party was originally filled with nothing but students from our school, at some point in the night a group of college students had made their way inside. They spoke about getting with the girls at the party and spiked the drinks. Kevin was notified immediately about what had happened and made sure that everyone knew not to drink the soda as he tried to find the college students and ask them to leave as it was a private party.”

The Matthews looked at one another, not saying a word as they realized that they had done something wrong by not listening to Riley. They had been so worried and hadn’t thought very clearly.

“Finally, we call to the stand,” Shawn said smiling. “Maya Hunter.”

Maya stepped forward and sat on the bench in front of the Matthews. “Riley had your permission to go to this party. You may not remember, because you were otherwise preoccupied.”

“What are you saying Maya,” Cory said looking the blonde in the eye.

“She asked you and you said yes, but you were watching something on TV and hadn’t really processed what she had said.”

Cory looked up at Shawn confused. “Explain,” he said.

“Cor, my dear friend,” Shawn smiled trying to not hit his best friend over the head. “You two were watching 20/20 when she asked, I’m guessing you DVRed it and hadn’t found the time to watch it until Thursday.”

“Is this true,” Cory asked Topanga.

“Oh god,” Topanga said as the realization hit her, she remembered Riley talking to them about something but she had been so involved in the show she hadn’t really heard what Riley had said. They had just agreed and moved on.

“You two are always so involved in those shows,” Shawn said. “I remember in college how you didn’t want to record it because you didn’t want to miss it. I guess you learned to record it but the minute you watch it, well you forget about everything else.”

“Cory,” Topanga said. “We messed up.”

“How did you get to be a good parent so fast Shawn?” Cory said and Shawn smiled.

“You try keeping up with this one,” he said pointing to Maya.

“You guys can come back tomorrow,” Topanga said feeling like she had been the one to do something wrong. She never lost, but she had lost this time. “We need to have a talk with our daughter.”

The group nodded and moved towards the door before Lucas came back, he set Riley’s backpack on the table, and a small box of Riley’s favorite cupcakes to cheer her up, since he couldn’t give it to her in person.

 

* * *

 

 

Riley heard the door slam shut downstairs but didn’t care, her friends had given her a gift and she was happy looking at it. She wanted to talk to Lucas, who would tell her something sweet, and Maya who would just rant about how wrong it was that she was grounded. Zay would make her laugh, and Smackle would say something inappropriate while Farkle tried to stop her. She missed her parents being nice to her and encouraging her instead of being angry at her for something that wasn’t her fault.

“Hi Riley,” Auggie said from the door. “That looks cool,” he said pointing at what her friends had done.

“Yeah, I have good friends,” she said as she watched him walk into her room.

After a moment had passed he spoke up, “Why are Mom and Dad mad at you?”

She sighed wishing she didn’t have to talk about it. “They think I did something, that I didn’t do, and they didn’t listen to my side of the story before grounding me for a month.”

“But your Riley,” he said.

“Yeah, I know kiddo.”

“And we’re sorry about not listening to you,” her mother said as she walked into the room with her backpack and a small box. “That looks nice,” she said pointing to the window.

“And it’s true,” her father said. “You’ve made some good friends, they taught me something today.”

“They were here?” Riley said surprised. “I thought they did this while I was sleeping.”

“They probably did since you slept until noon,” Auggie said holding his sister’s hand.

“Riley they were here to argue for you,” her father said. “Since we didn’t give you a chance.”

“We’re sorry for not listening to you, and for not paying attention when you asked us to go to the party,” her mother said sitting next to her. “We still have a lot to learn especially now that you’re in high school.”

“Just remember to smack us upside the head if we don’t listen to you,” her father smiled at her for the first time. “Just not at school because I need to have some authority there.”

“Okay daddy,” she smiled at her parents. “Does this mean I’m not grounded?”

“No, you’re free, but how about just a family day before your friends invade tomorrow,” he said to her.

“Movie night,” Auggie jumped off the bay window and ran off.

“We’re going to see Star Wars I just know it,” her mother said sighing before following Auggie.

“I’m okay with that,” Riley said as she followed before stopping and looking at her father. “Are you coming?”

“In a minute,” he smiled. “I have to take the nails out of the window.”

“Okay,” she said before looking at the box they had placed on her desk, opening it to see four cupcakes from her favorite bakery. She knew it was Lucas who had gotten it because Maya didn’t know that she went to the bakery, it was a regular spot for her dates with Lucas, and something they only shared with each other.

Her friends had fixed everything, and she was so happy to have them in her life.


	10. Girl Meets Sixteen

Riley woke up excited, she had set her phone to go off at five minutes to six, so that she would be awake for the exact moment she had been born. She really wanted sixteen to mean something mainly because the last time they had tried a surprise sweet sixteen, everything went down the drain. She remembered Maya’s sixteenth birthday earlier in the year, she didn’t want to make a big deal so they all stayed up all night in Farkle’s penthouse and played video games and danced around. It felt so normal and fun at the same time. Josh had sent Maya a picture of the two of them framed with the word someday carved on the back. He had given her hope for their someday even if Zay had insisted that Maya go out and explore other relationships instead of waiting for Josh.

She watched as everyone aged up, Lucas now seventeen with a junior license so he could drive them around as long they made it back by curfew. Zay and Farkle both worked on getting their licenses with Lucas’ help, while they all watched in horror as Farkle almost crashed the car into a tree. Smackle’s sweet sixteen had been a dinner at a fancy French Resturant on 65th street, because Farkle wanted her to have a special day, her parents as well as his were there along with all of their friends.

Riley didn’t want a big party, she only wanted her friends, her boyfriend, and her family. She wanted dinner at home prepared by her mother and a cake from her favorite Italian bakery with strawberries on top. As the clock turned to six in the morning she jumped up and did a dance, she was officially sixteen, and instead of everything changing the way they had feared, it had all just gotten better. They grew together and it was the best gift she could ever ask for.

She walked into her closet and pulled out a dress her Aunt Morgan had sent her for her birthday, the dress went just below her knees, and it was a dark purple color, it came with a dark sweater to go over it, and Riley pulled out a pair of knee high black boots that her Grandmother Amy had sent to her. The outfit was perfect for her to go to school in, and she was happy about it. She skipped to the bathroom and took a quick shower before going back to her room to do her hair.

Her phone rings as she puts the finishing touches on her hair but as soon as she picks it up the caller hangs up. The number says unlisted so she leaves it to be someone who dialed the wrong person and finishes putting herself together. As she skips to the dining room she smiles as she sees her mother making breakfast and gives her a kiss.

“Good Morning Riley,” her mother says turning away from the stove. “Happy Birthday sweetie.”

“Thanks Mom,” she says hugging her mother.

“There she is,” her father says from the hallway. “My baby girl is sixteen today.” He rushes towards her and gives her a bear hug lifting her up off the floor before putting her down and rubbing his back. “You’re not as light as you used to be.”

“Yeah, and I’m also not seven,” she laughed as she watched him sit down on his chair. “You have to stop doing that or one day you’re going to break your back.”

“Yeah whatever, I’m going to do that until the day you get married, you’ll be forty when that happens right?”

“No,” she said smiling. She didn’t know when she would get married but she wasn’t going to wait that long.

The door to the apartment opened just as her brother slammed himself into her side taking all the air out of her lungs. He was getting bigger every day and it amazed her how grown up he was.

“Happy birthday Riley,” he said to her.

“What’s up Matthews,” Maya said from the door before she came over to Riley. “Happy Birthday Riles.”

“Alright breakfast is ready,” her mother said making them turn around. They all sat down for breakfast and talked like they always did, about the weather, about school, and about Riley’s birthday dinner. It was only family and friends, so it would be a small party but it was what she wanted the most, and her parents knew that.

When Riley and Maya made it to school Riley was skipping everywhere, they walked up the hole and Riley smiled. “This year has been a good year Maya,” she said as they walked up the stairs. Riley stopped to look at the shoes the girls were wearing, but Maya kept walking ignoring Riley’s morning routine. As she made her way to Maya, she tripped on someone’s shoe but before she could apologize the person was gone.

“Riles, stop…” Maya stopped noticing that Riley was on the floor. “You haven’t been this klutzy all year what happened.”

“I tripped on someone’s shoe,” Riley smiled at her best friend. “It was bound to happen at some point since there’s so many people in this school.”

“Come on let’s get our stuff for class,” Maya said helping Riley up off the floor. Maya walked off to her locker, leaving Riley at hers by her dad’s classroom.

When she opens her locker a bunch of balloons come flying out, in the middle there’s a note, _Happy Birthday Princess Dancing Sunshine_ , she automatically knew it was from Lucas because he’s the only one who knows that nickname.

“Happy Birthday Riley,” Lucas’ voice pulls her away from the locker to see him standing with a bouquet of flowers, white and purple all over. He leans in a kisses her on the cheek, smiling at her.

“Thank you Lucas,” she said trying to hide her blushing face.

“I have fourteen more surprises for you, I wanted to give you a birthday you would never forget so I figured you needed sixteen surprises.”

“You’re the best boyfriend ever,” she said smiling, as she took his hand and linked their fingers together.

Throughout the day Lucas gave her small little surprises, during her class with her father he had put a small purple cat on her desk with a little purple ribbon. The next time they had class together, he put a hand drawn picture on her desk of the two of them, it wasn’t a perfect drawing put it was perfect to her. The last class they had together he had given her a bracelet made of leather that he had woven together. When she went to her locker at the end of the day to get all of her little gifts she smiled when she saw a framed picture of their first date in middle school.

He stood next to her smiling with a birthday bag in his hand. “I thought you might need this,” he said smiling.

“This day has been so perfect,” she told him and he smiled. They put everything in the bag and Lucas took it and held onto it as they walked towards her mother’s café.

“Come on,” he said pulling her inside. The café was empty, their friends nowhere in sight but she didn’t care that they weren’t studying together. They had all wished her a happy birthday throughout the day and told her that they would be at her party that night. Lucas’ next surprise came in the form of a sandwich, a soda and a slice of chocolate cake for them to share.

“I promised I would if you asked, but you never asked,” he said as he put half the food in front of her. “So I figured we could do this as your next surprise along with this impromptu afternoon date.”

She smiled at him and nodded, it was two gifts at once and she loved it. She got up and sat back down next to him in the booth, taking his hand and laying her head in his shoulder.

“Okay the ninth surprise is this,” he said and gave her a kiss on her lips, pulling away with a smile. “It’s small but I thought we’d try to have a little more public displays of affection.”

She couldn’t help but smile. “I wouldn’t mind that either, maybe one day we can even sit in the back of the movie theater and make out,” she teased him but noticed how his ears turned red.

“One day,” he said. “Now eat up the next surprise is uptown and we have to get there and back before your party.”

The two of them ate and smiled at each other throughout their meal, before he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the door. “Maya’s mom said that she’s going to take our stuff to your apartment,” he said smiling.

“How long have you had this all planned?” Riley asked thinking about all the work he had put into this.

“A while,” he smiled. They rushed off to the subway and took the D train to Rockefeller Center. Riley smiled as she saw the Christmas tree lit up in front of her, Lucas pulled out his phone and took a picture of her smiling, because he knew the one time of year she loved the most was Christmas time. Her birthday was so close to the holiday that it automatically made everything he wanted to do with her absolutely perfect.

“This is fantastic,” she said as she looked at the tree.

“Come on, we have to now go ice skating,” he smiled. Her face lit up in front of him and he knew it was the perfect idea.

The two of them skated around the rink not too long afterwards, she giggled as Lucas danced with her on the ice. “This is perfect,” she yelled as he held onto her.

When they finished they walked off towards Bryant Park to see the shops they had set up around the park, it was dark outside but the park was lit up for the holidays. They walked around and Riley made a mental note to come back and buy everyone’s presents there because all the shops had something different. They stopped by an ornament shop and Lucas talked to the woman at the register as Riley looked at all the glass ornaments.

“This is for you,” he said once he finished chatting with the other woman. He handed her a small bag with a box on the inside. When she pulled it out she saw a small glass star, inside of it was Pluto.

“Oh my god,” she said looking at it.

“They make custom ornaments,” he said smiling at her. “And I’ve always wanted to give you the world, instead I decided to give you hope for one world.”

She didn’t want to cry but she couldn’t help it as the tears came down, she smiled at him. “It’s perfect.”

They walked off towards the train station to go back to her house, so far everything was perfect, the only bad thing that had happened was her tripping earlier in the day. When they walked up to her block Lucas stopped her before they got to her house.

“I want to give you one more present before we go upstairs,” he said as he moved forward. “Because if I do this in front of your dad he would kill me.”

“Lucas what is it?” she asked wondering what he had planned.

Lucas pulled her close and kissed her cheek before placing both of his hands on her face and bringing his lips closer to hers, he kissed her softly at first before deepening the kiss. She could feel nothing but the heat from his hands mixed with the cold breeze of late fall, mixed with the smell of cedar and musk. His tongue traced the outside of her lips slowly asking for permission before she opened her mouth and let him inside of her mouth. This kiss was different from all of the others, it made her toe tingle, as her heart began to race. She finally felt that fire everyone had kept talking about when they swore that Maya and Lucas would be better together, but it wasn’t the same fire, this was more of a slow burn that took over her whole body.

When he pulled away she looked at his eyes and saw the same thing she felt, it was real, what they had for one another. At that moment her hope for her life with Lucas became something she wanted to hold close to her heart.

“That was perfect,” she said for what felt like the millionth time that night but everything had been.

All of a sudden she heard cheers from her apartment, as she looked up she saw her friends all sticking their heads out of her living room window as they cheered on the couple.

“Come on, let’s go to your party and have some fun,” Lucas said taking her hand. She missed the warmth of them on her cheeks but her face was burning from the fact that they had been caught kissing.

As they walked into the apartment she looked around and saw that her family had decked it out in purple and gold balloons, her grandparents stood in the kitchen smiling at them, her friends were still at the bay window along with her Uncle Josh who was sitting next to Maya. Her parents were standing next to the couch with her Uncle Eric, while Shawn and Katy sat on the couch. This was her family and she loved them all.

“Let’s party,” she said smiling at everyone. She slowly made her way through her aunts and uncles, hugging them each, she kissed her grandparents before moving towards her friends and pulling them all into a group hug.

“Bay window,” Maya said smiling. “Bay window right now.”

Her best friend dragged her to her room and sat her down at the window, smiling at her. “So what do I owe this meeting?” Riley said smiling.

“I want to give you your birthday present,” Maya said as she pulled out a small box. “I worked at the café for a few days over the summer to save up for this, my mom and Shawn helped pay for it too, it’s a gift from all of us.”

Riley took the box and opened it revealing a necklace with the letter R on it, when she looked up she couldn’t help but smile at Maya. It was the first time since they had met that the blonde had given her a real present and not just herself.

“I wanted to say thank you Riley,” Maya said smiling. “For everything you’ve ever done for me, and I know that sometimes I don’t show it, and sometimes I do things that hurt you, I just wanted to let you know how much our friendship means to me.”

For the second time that day Riley was crying, “I love it,” she said to Maya smiling.

She heard someone clear their throat from the door, as she looked over she saw Farkle standing in the doorway. “I think we should all give Riley her presents all at once or else she’s going to keep crying and we’ll never get through the rest of the night,” he said as he walked in. Zay, Smackle, and Lucas filed in together.

“Okay,” Riley said looking at her friends, her make shift family that had slowly come together over the years.

“Okay me first,” Zay said stepping up to Riley and handing her a box wrapped in purple paper. She quickly opened it and revealed a box full of cookies. “They’re from my grandmother, I asked her for them as a present. I know that I didn’t really let go of the fact that you ate my cookie, but I think that it was really the first time that the two of us had something going that wasn’t forced by the group. The reason I let it go on for so long is because in a weird way it was our thing.”

“I’m next or else Bubbles will start crying again,” Smackle said handing Riley another box, inside was a picture of Riley, Smackle and Maya from middle school, when they had given Smackle a make-over. “That was the first time you let me into your circle of friends, and now I’m grateful for it because I wouldn’t have Farkle in my life otherwise, and I wouldn’t have you as a friend.”

“Aww,” Maya said as Riley wiped tears from her face and pulled Smackle to the bay window and hugged the genius.

“Okay my turn,” Farkle said. He walked out into the hallway and brought back a box and placed it on her bed. “Open it,” was all he said. Riley got up and walked to her bed, slowly opening the box revealing a small planetarium lamp. “It’s so you can always have Pluto nearby,” he said as Riley pulled him into a hug, her friends all moved towards them and hugged her while Lucas stood to the side and smiled.

“Come on Lucas you turn,” Zay said.

“Lucas has already given me a million gifts you guys,” Riley said but Lucas pulled out another box.

“I have three more,” he smiled handing her the box.

She set it down on the bed and opened it, inside was a photo album, and another box. She opened the album and saw nothing but pictures of them all. Her friends, Lucas and her holding hands, their first dance, everything. She was still crying as she opened the smaller box revealing a Pandora bracelet, with one charm on it, it was a heart.

“This is too much,” she said looking at it.

“Not really,” he said. “My mom loves those charms so she had gone to buy a couple of them and had gotten the bracelet for free. She wanted you to have it because if it weren’t for you, and your big heart I don’t know where I would be today. I got the charm a few days afterwards.”

“Gosh these kids are so cute,” Maya said smiling at them.

“Geez Lucas how many things have you given her today?”

“So far fifteen gifts,” he answered.

“But she’s turning sixteen, so aren’t you missing one?” Farkle asked.

“Oh god no more or else I’m going to be a mess,” Riley said looking around at her friends.

Lucas smiled at her, “The sixteenth is a movie date, you can pick the day we go and what movie we see. Just the two of us.”

Riley thought back to what she had said earlier, about them sitting in the back of theater making out and felt her face flush. Maya looked between the two of them and started laughing.

“Oh man, Matthews is going to freak,” she said.

“What do you mean Maya?” Zay asked.

“Well, all of their dates since they started going out have been supervised… by us but now Huckleberry over here wants to take her out alone,” she said smiling. “Just the two of them.”

Everyone in the room started laughing, as both Lucas and Riley blushed.

“Come on kiddos time for the party to go into full swing,” Josh said from the bedroom door.

The six teens walked back to the living room all laughing and smiling, Riley walked up to everyone in her family and talked to each of them about their lives, smiling when she heard that her grandparents were going on a cruise for the holidays. Laughing when her Uncle Eric told her that he wanted to be mayor again because he missed his little town life. Hugging her parents for giving her the world, and her Uncle Shawn who had made Maya and her mother a part of their family. When they sung happy birthday and she blew out the candles she wished that everyone else had a good year, because she had already had the best year she could have ever asked for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lucas’ Gifts to Riley  
> 1\. Balloons  
> 2\. Flowers  
> 3\. Purple Cat  
> 4\. Drawing  
> 5\. Leather Bracelet  
> 6\. Framed Picture  
> 7\. Food  
> 8\. Date  
> 9\. Kiss  
> 10\. Rockefeller Center.  
> 11\. Ice skating  
> 12\. Ornament  
> 13\. Make-out Kiss  
> 14\. Photo album  
> 15\. Pandora bracelet  
> 16\. Movie Date


	11. Girl Meets Insecurities

Riley didn’t know when it started, she hadn’t realized anything was happening at all because she had always been a clumsy, klutzy, girl. Except after all of that time with Coach Kelly in middle school she had found balance in her body. Yet in the last few weeks she had found herself on the floor more often, or small accidents happening like a few days ago she somehow found her favorite pair of jeans covered in red paint. More and more often she was getting phone calls from unknown numbers, of blocked numbers. She hadn’t understood what was happening until the first set of messages began to pop up.

Each message was as bad as the others, they told her that she didn’t deserve her friends, they told her that she was stupid, that she didn’t look pretty, and that Lucas would finally leave her for someone better. Riley didn’t want to bother her friends with this because she needed to fight this battle by herself. So she deactivated her account on the school social network, she stopped posting on Instagram and reported the messages, but the accounts were fake and new accounts came back so she deactivated that account as well.

She wanted to be strong enough to handle it all but as the days went by more and more messages found their way towards her. Through her school email, through notes slipped into her locker, until they started showing up on her phone. Text message after text message, she blocked the number but new ones came and they began to break through her self-confidence. It was worse than when she was in middle school but she didn’t know why, she was nice to everyone and most of the school liked her so she couldn’t understand who would do this.

Instead of asking for help she just ignored it all, she tried to rise above it not showing her friends that someone was hurting her because they all had to study for the regents exams at the end of January and failing them meant you had to retake a class entirely. She decided that after the exams she would talk to them about it and ask for help. Except she couldn’t sleep anymore, as the thoughts of these people were in her mind muddling her thoughts.

She was sitting in class when she fell asleep and knocked her head against her desk.

“Riley are you okay?” her teacher asked looking at her worried.

Riley gave her a smile before yawning. “Sorry I was up late studying so I didn’t get enough sleep,” she said trying to concentrate but it wasn’t working. “Can I be excused, maybe if I splash some cold water on my face it will wake me up.”

The teacher agreed but told her to take her stuff with her since the bell would ring soon. Riley nodded before walking away to the bathroom, instead of washing her face she went into a stall and cried. She hadn’t slept in the last two days, only little naps here and there, her body felt heavy but she had to get through the rest of the day. As she wiped her face a group of girls came into the bathroom, she decided to wait until they were gone so that they wouldn’t see her face.

“Can you believe that girl?” one of them said. “She gets away with everything just because her father is a teacher here.”

“I know I remember in middle school that she did so many things and never got in trouble,” another said. Riley tried to listen to the voice to see if it was familiar but middle school felt like an eternity. “I just wish that she wasn’t so uppity about herself, she’s so klutzy and stupid half the time.”

“Why does she even have friends?” the third girl said. “They always have to deal with her random moods, it’s so stupid. I wouldn’t be surprised if they all leave her one day.”

“Oh what about her boyfriend?” the first girl said. “He’s so hot but he’s stuck with her, I would look better with him. Hell that girl Maya would look better with him.”

“They almost got together in middle school and of course Riley got in their way, those two make a much better couple too,” the second girl said. “I remember that time, she had been so quiet it was nice.”

Riley didn’t want to hear them anymore, they were talking about everything she had thought she had put behind herself years before. That’s when she realized what was happening was worse than when she had been bullied in middle school. She thought about the paint on her jeans, the notes in her locker, and everything in between. She thought how even after dating Lucas for a year, people still thought that Maya was the better person for him. She thought about almost losing her friends the first day of high school all because she wanted to believe in others. Everything in her mind was mixed up and jumbled together, she didn’t want to think anymore, she just wanted some time alone to sleep.

Instead she got up when the girls had left and washed her face before making her way to her father’s class. Her friends sat in their seats, talking and laughing about something. _Had they noticed that she wasn’t in the room_ , she thought to herself. She watched as Maya grabbed Lucas by the shirt and sneered at him, as Zay laughed at their interaction, as Farkle tried to pull them apart. Her head was spinning.

“Riley, take your seat,” her father said but for some reason it felt distant as her ears roared with the rush of her blood. Everything was falling apart in Rileytown.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, with another message from her tormentors, but she ignored it she stopped listening to everyone. All she wanted was quiet. That’s when she felt the world tilt in front of her, as her body finally gave out. The last thing she heard was Lucas calling out for her as she fell to the floor.

\--------

 

Lucas couldn’t believe what was happening, Maya had gone up to him making fun of him and he didn’t want to deal with her. He was worried about Riley, he knew something was wrong by how tired she looked. She had fallen asleep in class which was not something she normally did. She looked tired, but he knew they were all tired. The regents exams were coming up and they were the most difficult set of test out of the whole year because they determined whether you moved forward in school. Riley took them seriously, like everything else when it came to her grades, because she wanted to get into a good college with a scholarship, but he wondered if she had gone too far.

“Maya let go,” he said giving up he didn’t want to deal with the blonde in front of him. He wanted to talk to Riley about not stressing out about a test but instead of letting him go Maya just pulled him closer.

“No, because you threw something at me,” she said, but he wasn’t the one who did it. Zay was trying to get the blonde’s attention and threw the paper but when she turned around she just looked at Lucas like he was the one who did it.

In the distance her heard Mr. Matthews telling Riley to take a seat, and Lucas automatically turned to see his girlfriend in the door looking more tired than she did earlier. Lucas tried to pry Maya’s fingers off of him to go to Riley. He needed to talk to her more than anything, but then he saw her eyes get all glassy before she started to crumble to the ground.

“Riley,” he called out to her pushing Maya aside and rushing to the front of the room. Kneeling down next to Riley he tried to wake her but she didn’t wake up. Her face looked sunken in, like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. He was afraid that it was all because of a stupid test. Maya kneeled next to him looking at Riley then back at Lucas with a look on her face saying why was this happening. Farkle looked at the three of them on the floor and noticed that Riley’s phone had slid out of her pocket. It buzzed in the genius’ hand and Lucas looked up to see the horrified look on his friend’s face.

“Mr. Friar, can you take her to the nurse’s office,” Mr. Matthews said, Lucas looked up and saw the worried look on his girlfriend’s face and nodded.

Lucas picked Riley up gently not wanting to wake her up, and held her close as he walked out of the room. The murmurs of his classmates behind him, he knew they were talking about what was happening, and he didn’t care he just wanted Riley to be taken care of. He wanted to make sure that she was taken care of. He could hear his friends in the distance but he just kept walking to the nurse’s office without looking back.

\------

Farkle couldn’t believe it, the minute he picked up Riley’s phone and saw the messages that were popping up he was afraid. Not only for Riley, but also for Lucas. Riley who would do anything for her friends, who would make sure that they were okay. Lucas who had a darker side that no one outside of their group knew about, a side that is only at bay because Riley centered him, loved him. As he watched the couple walk away he pulled Maya, to the side and shoved Riley’s phone in her face. He watched as her face became horrified at the message, unlocking Riley’s phone before pulling up message after message. She looked up at him with sadness in her eyes.

“It’s happening again,” she said after a moment had passed. “Why didn’t she tell us?”

Farkle knew the answer, “The test, they’re all we can think about so of course she left this hanging, until we went through them.”

“But Farkle they’re just stupid test,” Maya said slowly noticing that Riley’s social media accounts were all deactivated as she clicked on them one by one. “She has posted anything in a while and I was wondering why, but I guess now I know.”

“I’ll open them up and see what was happening,” he said as Zay and Smackle joined them. Farkle knew that he had to do something about Lucas, he didn’t want the older teen to freak out and go after anyone because it would only hurt Riley in the end. “Zay, you need to keep Lucas away from Riley.”

“Yeah good luck with that,” Zay said with sadness in his eyes. “The minute Riley went down his mind probably thought about nothing but making sure that she was alright.”

“I know,” Farkle sighed.

“You guys need to get back into class,” Mr. Matthews said from the door. Farkle could see the worry in the man’s face, Mr. Matthews loved his students like they were his own, but when it came to his children he would do anything for them. “I’m going to ask for a sub, before I leave.”

Farkle wanted to tell him, but he wanted to make sure that Lucas was taken care of first so he just nodded. “Alright,” he said ushering his friends back inside the room. “Don’t say anything until we have everything sorted out, I really don’t want Lucas going all Texas while Riley’s like this.”

They all nodded at him and followed him back into the room, they decided to go to Topanga’s after school to talk. Farkle wanted to have his computer with him, he wanted to go through Riley’s accounts and see the extent of what was happening. He wanted them to be prepare for what was coming because the moment Lucas knew, the moment her parents knew, everything would be in utter chaos. He wanted to keep Riley safe because he was a part of the Riley Committee and because she was one of his best friends.

\----

Maya sat in her classes feeling as if her whole world was tilting on its side, her best friend had fallen apart in front of her and she hadn’t noticed. How is it she can help Riley with something one minute and be utterly clueless about what was happening with her the next. She felt like she was always failing her best friend everyday but she also knew that Farkle would help figure everything out, that they would all get together and protect Riley. She didn’t want her best friend to lose her smiles over something like this.

Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion throughout the day, when she saw Lucas again towards the end of the day he looked like he had been thrown through the ringer, his hair was a mess his eyes full of worry. He slammed his locker and punched it several times before she saw Zay talking to him. Without Riley around to center him, the boy was falling apart. Maya hadn’t noticed it before, the reason why Riley and Lucas worked so well together, they were each other’s center. Without one the other would fall apart, it had happened with Riley during the time she had set her feelings aside so that Lucas could be with her best friend. Maya hadn’t realized what it had done to Riley until Farkle revealed the truth about Riley’s feelings, and the look of sadness that Riley had been trying to hide for so long had taken up permanent residence on her face.

Farkle walked up next to her and put his arm around her, “Don’t worry we’ll figure this out,” he said and she knew he was right but she couldn’t figure out the why.

“Why would they do this Farkle?” she asked knowing he didn’t have the answer.

“We’re going to find out,” was all he said a look of determination on his face. “Let’s go.”

They dragged Lucas to the café even though he had wanted to go to Riley, Zay tied him to a radiator with rope and made sure the knots were tight enough as they slowly explained to Lucas what was happening. Maya watched as the boy in front of her slowly lost his composure, as he strained against the ropes but he was trapped. Farkle and Smackle were working on Riley’s phone, opening up all of her accounts, Zay comforted Lucas who would just snarl at the him.

Maya just stared at them all wondering what she could have done differently, until her mother walked over wondering what they were doing. They all looked at one another before Lucas’ in his angry state spoke up.

“Someone’s bullying Riley again,” he said straining against the ropes. Her mother understood, remembering the last time it had happened and how Lucas had been tied to the counter. He had to pay for the repairs by working it off doing small tasks in the café. This time they had been prepared, making sure he wouldn’t get far.

“Tell me if you kids need anything,” her mother said. “And don’t forget to tell her parents.”

“We will,” Farkle said. “The minute we have all of the evidence we need.”

So they sat there working, Maya had gotten the small printer the geniuses brought with them plugged in and filled with paper. She read through everything they printed horrified at the things they said. The account names changed constantly, almost as if Riley would block one and another would pop up. Lucas gave up fighting the ropes after he had heard enough of the messages. His eyes filled with sadness, the same sadness that had filled all of their hearts. They needed her parents to deal with this, because it was bigger than it had been during middle school and at the rate it was going it would eventually break their sunshine apart.


	12. Girl Meets Bullies

Riley doesn’t remember how she got home, she doesn’t remember what happened after she walked into her father’s classroom. The only thing she remembers is the smell of cedar and warm arms carrying her away. She opened her eyes to the darkness of her bedroom, and the sound of her parents talking to someone. They had left her bedroom door open, and the voices traveled towards her room. She tried her best to sneak towards the living room to hear what was happening without the floor creaking as she walked.

“Mr. Matthews,” Farkle said. “It’s bad, and from the looks of it it’s been going on for a while, it might have started the night of the party.”

“What are you talking about Farkle,” her mother said.

She heard the genius sigh. “Riley’s coordination has gotten better, especially with the time she spent on the cheerleading team in middle school. So it would have been impossible for her to trip by mistake without someone making sure she did. She might have not noticed it had started at the time but there have been a lot of accidents lately.”

“I think we should find out who is doing this,” Lucas said and Riley felt her heart clench. She could hear the pain in his voice, the anger he was trying to hold back. “They sent her messages today, telling her that she shouldn’t be with me, that she’s not good enough for me, and it just breaks my heart that she didn’t tell any of us that this was happening.”

As his words sank in Riley realized that she didn’t have her phone, she hadn’t seen it on her nightstand where it had always been since she puts it there to charge. They had read the messages, and she didn’t know how since she had her phone locked to keep her parents out. But she remembered that she was friends with geniuses, and Maya knew the code even though Riley had changed it several times.

“She was probably more worried about those exams that only evaluate how we’ve learned a certain subject and not whether it is good for our minds,” Smackle said. “They are truly useless exams, if they wanted to know if we were really learning they should just administer smaller test throughout the year and not one big one at the end of every semester.”

“Those test sometimes force teachers to teach material that they don’t know how to teach,” her father said, she could hear the weariness from him. “It’s one of the reason we have to have training every summer, they want us to learn the new techniques.”

“What are we going to do?” Maya said and Riley knew that it was hurting her friend. “We can’t keep Lucas tied up forever, it was hard enough to drag him through the street tried up like that.”

“We’re lucky we didn’t get arrested,” Zay said.

Riley walked into the living room as if the weight of the world’s problems on her shoulders. “I’m sorry for dragging you into this,” she said in a quiet voice, but when she looked up she saw her friends all looking between her and Lucas.

“Riley,” Lucas said, he was the first to talk the moment she stepped into the room. “Don’t be sorry, fight like you did for the girls at school. Fight for yourself, please, just fight.”

“Lucas, I didn’t keep this from you because I wanted to but we’re all stressed because of the test, I didn’t want everyone to get caught up in something else that would cause problems come test day.”

“It doesn’t matter because I’m involved now,” he said walking up to her. His body tied up in ropes. “You deserve to be treated better than they have.”

“But what was I supposed to do?” she said hoping her hands on the ropes that tied him up. “I don’t even know who they are, last time it was easy I knew who the person was, but this time it’s like a ghost is haunting me.”

He put his head on hers and held his breath for a moment. “We’ll help you, we’ll study together, we’ll make sure that whoever it is learns that it’s not okay to treat someone like this. Just don’t shut me out when you need me the most.”

“Okay,” she whispered as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Lucas laughed as he took in the scent of her hair. “I would hug you back but I’m a little tied up.”

“Sorry man,” Zay said from across the room. “It’s for your own good.”

“Come Riles,” Maya said pulling her away from Lucas. “We need to talk, so let’s go to the bay window.”

Maya walked her over to her room and sat down at the bay window waiting for her to sit down, but Riley’s heart wasn’t in it. She was afraid, for herself, and for what this could do to her friends. It seems like ever since sophomore year started her life has been upended in one way or another.

“Come over here now,” Maya said smiling at her. “Ring power.”

Riley knew that she couldn’t get out of it now, ring power was sacred, once the words were said it became authority. She walked over and sat down. “I don’t want to talk about the whys of it Maya.”

“How about we just talk, like the last time.”

“I don’t want to cry anymore, I feel like everything is pressing down on me.”

“I know hon, but you can’t keep it all bottled up, it’s not good and you know it. Let’s just talk about something else, not about how you’re feeling but something about the last couple of weeks. Starting with the party.”

“What about the party?” Riley asked remembering what she had heard Farkle say but it was impossible that it would have started then.

“Do you remember who had pushed you?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Riles you have to think back, there’s something in all of this that you’re missing, something that connects it all.”

“Fine,” she said closing her eyes trying to remember the party. “Let’s see, Lucas and I were dancing and I had gotten thirsty so I told him I was going to get something to drink. While I was there I grabbed the first thing off the table and poured it into a bottle.”

“Was there anyone around you?”

“Maya how do you know what questions to ask?”

“I watch those crime shows with my mom some nights, Shawn loves them so it’s bonding time for us, so of course I picked some stuff up. Now was there anyone around you?”

“Um… I remember hearing a couple of girls giggling nearby, I don’t know about what, and then one of them slammed into me… she had blonde hair, and I think I’ve seen her before but I don’t think she’s in any of my classes.”

“Okay that works, do you remember who her friends are?”

“Well, I remember there was a girl with dark brown hair, another one of them had light brown hair, but I didn’t see any of their faces.”

“Okay, um let’s see the next time you fell was on your birthday do you remember anything?”

Riley opened her eyes looking at Maya, “She had stuck her foot out, I swore it was me but no her foot was clearly sticking out waiting for me.”

Riley thought back to every time she had fallen, she always heard a bunch of girls laughing but hadn’t thought about it. The calls had started on her birthday as well, the messages soon afterwards, but that wasn’t what had pulled her out of her thoughts, it was the girls in the bathroom after she had fallen asleep in class.

“Maya I have a class with one of them,” Riley said wondering why she hadn’t thought about it before. The blonde was in the class she had had with Lucas.

“Do you know who it is?”

“Maybe, but I want to confirm it with what Farkle and Smackle find from my accounts, since I know you guys have my phone.”

“Yeah, Farkle picked it up after you passed out, he was also the one who made Zay tie Lucas up as we discussed everything at your mom’s café, and the first thing we decided was to talk to your parents.”

“Thanks,” she said bringing Maya into a hug. “For everything.”

“No problem, I’d do almost anything for you, because honestly there are something I wouldn’t do but that’s most things like being forced to watch a marathon of Cuddle Bunnies.”

Riley laughed for the first time, it felt real and her heart didn’t hurt as much. “Let’s go find out what the others know.”

Maya got up and walked over to her and gave her a quick hug, “No more secrets,” she said.

“Well at least I know one thing from this,” Riley said as they walked back to the living room.”

“What’s that?”

“You have a career in law enforcement, considering you are good at asking questions.”

“Yeah good luck with that,” Maya said laughing. “I want a nice cushy job with minimal effort.”

Riley felt lighter for a moment, she didn’t know if it was Lucas giving her courage, Maya talking her through everything, the fact that Zay made sure that Lucas didn’t go Texas on everyone, or even the geniuses hacking her accounts to get through everything. Her parents being there to help them, and listen to them closely. They loved her and they were going to make sure everything was going to work out in the end.

“What you got for me Maya,” Farkle said as the two girls walked in through. He had been working on a program to go through Riley’s social media accounts and pick up the IP addresses for each of the messages that had been sent to her.

“Riley may have a class with one of the girls,” Maya said as she sat down on the chair by the door. Riley walked to where Lucas was sitting on the bench still tied up wondering how she was going to undo the knots.

“Okay, what else?” Farkle said as Smackle typed away at the computer.

“She had blonde hair and I think she sits next to Lucas,” Riley said wondering why she never noticed the girl before, but then remembered that when they had class together all she saw was him smiling at her.

“I know that girl, her name is Emily, she’s always talking to me before Riley comes to class,” he said wondering if he remembered any of their conversations, but the moment Riley walked in he always forgets what he was talking about and with who.

“Got it,” Smackle said pulling up Riley’s class schedule along with Lucas’ making sure to have the rosters for both classes.

“I feel like I shouldn’t be watching this,” her father said as he watched the geniuses hack into the school social media network.

“You’re staying,” her mother said pulling him back before he could run off. “We’ll make dinner, and we’ll be their alibi, because no one hurts my kids without getting away with it.”

“Fine,” he said pouting as they started work on dinner.

The teens worked in the living room, trying to make a list of girls in their school who might look like what Riley had described. Riley could feel herself getting sleepy and with the permission from her parents to stay home from school the next day. She didn’t want to leave her friends so to keep herself busy she worked on the ropes that bound her boyfriend. While everyone else worked on the girls who were in the same classes as she was, sometimes calling out their names to Riley to see if they could trigger something in her memory.

\----------

When she finished with the ropes and Lucas was free, the two of them sat at the bay window in the living room in each other’s arms. They all ate together, and kept talking but the later it got the more tired she was, and after a while she had found herself falling asleep on Lucas’ lap as the rest them talked. He was stroking her hair, running his hands through the strands, which calmed her down even more until she gave into the tiredness of her body.

Maya watched as Lucas took Riley to her room, she had sent a message to her mother telling her that she was spending the night with the Matthews because she didn’t want to leave Riley alone. It was nearly nine o’clock when the Matthews sent everyone home and Maya walked upstairs to Riley’s room and watched her best friend sleep in her bed. She was worried about what this had all done to her. Placing her phone next to Riley’s on the nightstand she worked on getting ready for bed.

Instead of climb into the bed she took her phone and sent a message to Josh, she told him about what was happening, she told him that she was scared for Riley because he was such a pure person and yet people found it to be a weakness. He messaged her until it was almost one in the morning, the two of them talked about Maya feeling partially responsible for some of what was happening, but he had told her that she was crazy. He told her that some people find joy in causing others pain, usually it was those same people who were jealous of what the person had. When they were both close to falling asleep they sent each other a good night before Maya climbed into bed next to her best friend and fell asleep.

\----------

Riley’s dreams start off nice, Lucas holding her hand as they walked through a meadow, Maya drawing the scene around them while Zay talked to her about some crazy thing he saw on youtube. Farkle and Smackle trying to catch butterflies for their collections, talking about the species that were around them. It was calming, and then she heard the distinct buzz of her phone, and the messages started coming in. Lucas pulls away, Maya is gone, Zay, Farkle and Smackle are too far for her to reach. Everything goes dark as rain clouds start to form around her, the thunder rolls and brightens the sky for a moment. All of a sudden she’s alone, in the bathroom stall at school listening to the same girls that had talked about her. The ones that brought out every one of her insecurities and talked about her like she was nothing but a spec in the wind.

The girl with the dark brown hair turns around and looks at the stall and Riley notices who she was, Missy, the second girl turns around and she sees Emily, they laugh as the third girl turns around and Riley sees the face of the girl who had bullied her in middle school, just because she had found her acting goofy. She didn’t understand why they were saying and doing these things to her but she wanted to know. All of a sudden the stall door slams open and they pull her out by her hair and push her to the ground.

One of them pulls out a bottle of soda and starts to pour it over Riley’s head soaking her. The girl kneels down and whispers in Riley’s ear, “You don’t deserve to be happy with Lucas,” automatically she knew it was Emily.

Missy walks up next and takes out a yogurt, “I told you to grow up before, but apparently you don’t listen, let the big girls take care of that.”

 

The last girl steps in, “You’re useless, they will forget you the minute they realize there’s something better out there.”

Riley could feel the tears form in her eyes but she didn’t want to show weakness, so she waited until they were gone before she started crying. She was alone in a dark room, with no one around, no one to help her.

“Fight Riley,” Lucas’ voice said to her. “Fight for yourself, fight for what you believe in, don’t let them tear you down.”

His voice, his sadness, everything that had happened, everything they had worked for, she loved him and she wanted to tell him everything. She wanted to fight, for herself, for her life, for her friends.

She woke up the next morning long past the time Maya had left for school and sat down at her computer. Farkle had reactivated all of her accounts the night before so she decided to go on there and look at the messages, the first one on top was from an unknown name and she knew that it was them, the three girls who wanted nothing more than to bring her down. She decided to send them a message because Lucas had been right, both in her dream and what he had said the night before, she needed to fight for herself.

_We need to meet, tomorrow after school the hallway by the hole._

She opened up her email and saw something from Lucas, and she smiled, she opened the email to see a picture of his smiling face and a message.

_I found this last night when I got home, it’s a website for people who are going through any number of problems. I thought it might give you a little strength and help bring back that sunshine that had slowly been growing dim._

When she opened the website she saw articles from all kinds of people, some talking about current affairs and how they impacted the communities, others talking about everyday problems and solutions, and then she found articles about how to deal with bullying. As she read their words she felt herself get stronger, she wanted to fight for these people as well.

\--------

Riley asked her friends not to come over afterschool that day, she wanted one day to herself to think, and to give herself a bit of strength for what she was going to do the next day. She sent them all a message telling them that she was going to do what she did in middle school, she was going to confront her bullies, and she wanted them there when it was over. She slowly worked on her confidence, thinking about what she was going to say to them when she saw them all face to face.

When she walked into school the next day and saw her friends waiting for her, she smiled at them and said to them that everything was going to be fine. She didn’t want anyone to worry too much because she wanted to do this on her own, she needed to stand on her own two feet and she told them all that it would be alright. It wasn’t until she walked into class and looked Emily face to face as she tried to flirt with Lucas that Riley realized just how much courage she was going to need. Not for herself, but for Lucas who was trying to make it seem like he hadn’t known anything was going to happen.

“Hi Lucas,” Riley said as she walked to her desk next to her boyfriend. Emily looked up at her and rolled her eyes, obviously not knowing that Riley knew who was bullying her.  The other girl bent down and whispered something in Lucas’ ear before walking towards her desk.

“Are you okay?” she asked him in hushed tones, but he shook his head and mouthed _Later_ to her. She touched his arm and saw him relax a little.

The rest of her classes went by normally, nothing major happening, at lunch she talked to her friends and felt herself relax. The day was going by as if it were any other day. Until the last bell rung and everyone rushed off to go home. She knew her friends were nearby, they always were, because they wanted to be there just like she was for them. She sat on the stairs and waited, wondering if they would show up, if any of them would show. She waited fifteen minutes and almost gave up and gone off to her locker to get her stuff before leaving. That was when she heard the sounds of their shoes coming near her. Her heartbeat started to speed up as she came face to face with the three girls who were tormenting her, two of which had bullied her before in one way or another.

 _Now or nothing_ , she thought to herself as she stood in front of them.


	13. Girl Meets Texas Lucas

Zay saw it constantly, the frayed edges of Lucas’ old personality, it didn’t come out as much as before and it had slowly started to disappear. He knew it was because of Riley, he felt guilty constantly because he had contributed in how triangle had gone. He made constant jokes about it and watched the despair in his best friend’s face. When he had gotten to New York during middle school all he had wanted was his old friend, the one who always protected him. Now Zay realized that making Lucas turn back into that person wasn’t going to happen because he was better. He still protected everyone, but he didn’t have this anger floating around him anymore.

Riley made him a better person, he worries about her, he’s always trying to make things better for her. If Zay would say it aloud it felt like the two of them were like an old married couple, because while Lucas worried and did all kinds of gestures for Riley, she would calm him and make sure he worked towards his dream of becoming a veterinarian, she made him smile and for those things alone Zay was grateful that his best friend had found someone he liked so much.

Now he sat in a near empty classroom as Lucas paced back and forth with worry, as Riley sat outside the room about the confront her bullies.

“She’s going to be fine Lucas,” Zay said for the millionth time, but Lucas only stared back at him for a minute before he started pacing again. “Listen she can take care of herself.”

The rest of their friends were in the hallway just above the hole, where the seniors had put them freshman year, where they learned that being together was their safe place. The hole meant so much and yet it brought horrible memories but in the end it had made their friendships stronger.

“I know you’re freaking out, but don’t go all Texas on us, Riley wouldn’t like that,” Zay said trying to plea with his childhood friend. At the mention of Riley’s name, Lucas stopped pacing and just stood there.

“Thank you,” he said before sitting down by the door, opening it just enough in case Riley needed any help. Zay sat down next to him and patted his shoulder trying to give him strength.

 

\-----------

Riley looked at Missy first, she hadn’t seen her since seventh grade, the girl wasn’t in any of her classes since then. She couldn’t figure out why Missy hated her so much except for one glaring reason, Lucas. Her eyes moved to Emily next, someone she had never met until she came to Abigail Adams, and yet she shared the same hatred as Missy all because Riley was with Lucas. The last girl was the one person Riley was never going to forget because she had once bullied Riley in eighth grade, she had made her cry and made her pull away from her friends.

“Why?” was all Riley could ask before one of them pulled her and slammed her towards the wall. Riley didn’t react, she didn’t know how all she knew was shock.

“You want to know why,” she said, forcing Riley to remember middle school, the messages on her phone all because she was who she was.

_You exist and you're weird, and you get in the way of where I'm looking._

“Yes, I do”

_So stop being weird and stop being happy._

“Because you get everything in the world handed to you, while the rest of us struggle just to get someone to notice us,” she said.

_No one should be as happy as you._

“I don’t have everything handed to me,” Riley said trying to reason with her.

_Stop being who you are._

“Everything I have, I’ve worked for,” she continued. “I can’t stop being who I am because I’m always going to be this weird girl, who’s always happy, and tries to look at the best in the world.”

“Doesn’t matter, because you don’t deserve any of it,” Missy said stepping up to the two of them.

“You don’t deserve Lucas, he doesn’t belong to you,” Emily said standing on the other side.

_Or I'm gonna put my foot in your weird, stupid face._

“Are you going to beat me up like you promised in middle school? Because violence is never the answer, what you’ve been doing is just as bad because you wanted to put me down but all you did was make me stronger.”

Riley took a step forward until she was standing as close as possible, she could feel her heart racing and her mind screaming for her to run away but she didn’t.

“I’m not going to change, I’m not going to stop loving people, I’m not going to stop being with Lucas all because you want to bring me down, all because you want him. I just want to live my life and be happy.”

Riley could tell that the longer she talked, the more Missy and Emily stepped away, they weren’t going to break her and they knew it.

“If you keep going like this, I’m going to take everything I have and give it to the principal, if he doesn’t do anything I’ll give it to my Uncle Jon who is the superintendent of schools, he would just give it to the police and where would you be?”

“You wouldn’t dare,” she said standing face to face, pulling Riley closer by the collar of her coat. “I know you wouldn’t because you don’t want anyone hurt, you always want to save everyone, while all I’ve wanted to do is punch you.”

“You’re right, I like to see the best in people, and I know somewhere deep inside of you that person is waiting for you to let go of all of this hate and anger you have over me. Hate that you yourself created only because I’m different from you. We’re all broken in some way, but some of us find a way to pick up the pieces and live with them, we find ways to cope until we can let go, we cry and scream and throw things. But the minute you unleash it on someone else and you hurt them you’ve committed a crime against your own heart.”

“Oh stop talking already you’re pissing me off,” she said slamming Riley against the wall. “I don’t care what you think, I could be broken a million times but I still don’t like you.”

“Who hurt you?” was all Riley asked but she didn’t get an answer. All she saw was a raised fist, before she closed her eyes. She was scared not for herself but for this girl who had put so much energy into hating one person.

“Not so fast,” Riley heard her father’s voice as the weight of the girl was pulled away from her. Riley opened her eyes to see her father and the principal standing in the hole with them.

“You three my office now,” the principal said as he walked away. “Miss Matthews I want to see you in the office with your official statement in the morning,” his voice said as he was followed by the three girls who had thought it fit to torment her.

Riley could feel her limbs turn to jelly as he friends all made their way towards her, she knew she could be strong from anyone else, but this took all the strength out of her. Lucas was on one side of her while Maya and Farkle kneeled down on the other side.

“You did it Riles,” Maya said as she hugged her. “You’re your own hero.”

“Maya,” Riley said as she hugged her friend back. The tears began to fall soon after. “Can we get some ice cream today.”

Maya laughed as she said it. “If you promise to eat it and not put it on my face then yeah we can have some ice cream.”

“I want chocolate,” Riley said holding onto her best friend. “Two scoops.”

“Okay, anything you want,” she said in her ear.

Lucas and Farkle both laughed as Zay sat down on the steps looking at the four of them.

“Zay,” Riley said when she noticed that he had stayed back, “Come here, group hug, Farkle drag Smackle over here.”

The six of them bunched up together and hugged each other, and Riley was so grateful that she had her friends with her when she needed them the most.

\---------

After they had their ice cream, and did their homework, Lucas asked Riley if he could walk her home. Maya and Zay went to see a new horror movie that had just came out, Farkle and Smackle decided to go out to eat, so all that was left was for the two of them to walk off in their own direction. When they reached her door he didn’t want to let go, so he gave her hand a squeeze before he gave her a soft smile.

“I would like to talk to you about something,” he said before he looked down to the ground. “It’s a bay window kind of conversation.”

“Okay,” was all she said. He knew that she was afraid because sometimes those conversations were emotionally charged and would test their relationship.

They walked up the stairs to Riley’s apartment hand in hand, when they walked in her mother was in the kitchen cooking dinner, while her father graded papers at the dinner table. Her brother was nowhere in sight which usually meant that he was over at Ava’s apartment down the hall or he was with his friend Doy.

Riley went up to her parents and give them both a hug before walking off, her mother telling her that she would call when dinner was ready. The two of them walked into her room, and sat down at the window but neither one said a word. Lucas had to build up his courage before he could say anything.

“I wanted to tell you something,” he said, his throat felt dry. He knew he needed to tell her the whole story about how he was expelled from school. He wanted to be honest with her because she had made him a better person. She watched him as he struggled with himself for a moment, she was always patient with him.

“I’ve held this back from you for so long, I don’t know if it’s alright to tell you… because I don’t want you to think of me in that way, Riley I don’t want you to hate me.”

“Lucas,” she said taking his other hand and facing him. “I could never hate you.”

He took a deep breath before he started to talk. “When I lived in Texas, I wasn’t always a good person, Zay always got in trouble with the wrong people and I would go and save him. I protected my friends, but I didn’t do it with words I usually used my fist. Most of the time it happened away from school so they couldn’t kick me out. But one day, Zay had gotten involved with one of the older students, a big guy who would have strangled him on site. He was also the principal’s son, he picked on everyone who was smaller than he was because he knew he could get away with it. Today when I listened to those girls it took me back to that. Everyone always favors the kids of the teachers, so when Zay called out my name and I went to save him yet again….”

“You turned into Texas Lucas?”

“Yes,” he said giving her hand a squeeze. “I had a lot of anger issues back then, my father was very strict, he worked for the military while we were there because our family was there, but he was never around and I was always helping everyone, but I felt angry that my father was so absent. So saving Zay for the millionth time was the only way to get that anger out. I didn’t throw the first punch but that didn’t matter, he was the principal’s son, but the minute his fist slammed into my head all I saw was red. I took out the anger I had on my father on him, and of course the principal showed up and they dragged us apart. My face was just as bloody as his, but I was the one who was expelled, I hadn’t started it, I was defending myself, but I was the one kicked out of school.”

Riley was crying in front of him and he didn’t know what to do, so he just placed his head on hers and took in the scent of Riley Matthews. He was afraid that she would walk away from him, but she just tilted her head and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

“Thank you,” he said making her laugh. “Not for the kiss, although that’s a bonus, I just want to thank you for making me a better person. I could have gone back to being the same person I was when I was in Texas, but seeing you and your dad, seeing you with Farkle and Maya, it slowly started changing me. I talked to my father more, I talked to my family, and as time went by I felt myself becoming a better person. You’ve taught me that.”

“Good because I want you to become a veterinarian,” she said smiling at him. “I want nothing but the best for you.”

“You’re the best person to have ever come into my life Riley.”

She let go of his hands and threw herself into his arms hugging him, it was at this moment that he knew that if there was ever one person out there who would have made him a whole person, it was this girl right in front of him.


	14. Girl Meets Cheerleading

It was the middle of sophomore year when cheerleading tryouts were announced, freshmen aren’t allowed to try out so Riley had to wait a whole year before she could try out. After working with Coach Kelly during her last year of middle school, and even working harder in gym throughout the year she thought she would finally have a chance. Plus she wanted to be motivated about something after what had happened with her bullies, but when she pointed out the sign Maya rolled her eyes at her.

“No, not again,” Maya said before walking away. “I’m not going through this again.”

“But Maya, I’m better than I was in middle school,” she said as she walked behind her best friend.

“Do I have to remind you of the ski lodge trip? You sprained your ankle just getting off the bus, and after that you couldn’t do anything with us at all.”

“I remember that trip completely different from you,” Riley said smiling.

“That’s because Ranger Rick was finally forced to admit that he liked you, and only kept the triangle going because he didn’t want me hurt, because hurting me would hurt you.”

“I know that but still, I’ve been real good about not falling this year, and when I did fall it wasn’t really my fault,” Riley said determined to state her case.

It was the end of the day and they were meeting up with their friends to go to Topanga’s so they could do their homework. Riley walked up to Lucas and took his hand, smiling at him before Maya burst their bubble.

“Lucas, please be the voice of reason,” Maya said as she stopped in front of him. “Tell her no to cheerleading.”

“I think it would be a good idea and Maya hates the idea of me trying out because of all those years I forced her to try out with me,” Riley sighed as she said the words.  “But I’m not telling her to try out with me.”

Lucas looked between the two of them before saying something. “I think it would be good for her to try out.”

“For crying out loud,” Maya said as Farkle joined them.

“What’s happening?” he asked as he stood next to Maya.

“Cheerleading,” Maya said. Zay laughed as he walked down the stairs to meet up with them.

“Riley again, really have you met the cheerleaders here?” Zay said and all Maya could do was point at him as _her face screamed see what I mean_.

“It’s a good idea,” Farkle said which made Riley smile.

“I have two for and two against,” Riley said bouncing up and down. “Where’s Smackle, she’s the tie breaker.”

They waited a few more minutes for Smackle to arrive, before explaining to her about cheerleading, the genius smiled at them.

“As much as I think that it’s a terrible idea,” Smackle said. “I think it’s up to Riley to do what she wants. I will only support her because that’s what friends do.”

“Yes,” Riley yelled jumping up and down around Zay and Maya.

“Fine whatever,” Maya said. “I’ll make sure we have ice ready for you when you end up falling.”

“Thank you Maya,” Riley said pulling her into a hug.

\----------

Tryouts were a week away so Riley spent her afternoons with Lucas in the school gym working on her stamina and her strength. Since baseball season was still a month and a half away he wanted to stay in shape for when the season started. They worked until five before meeting their friends every day after school to study for two hours before she had to be home for dinner. Even after dinner she was working on handstands in her bedroom and anything else she remembered from Coach Kelly.

By the time she went to bed every night she was exhausted, but she made sure to write about what she was doing, she wanted to remember all of the effort she was putting into tryouts. She did that a lot lately, she wanted to remember the good memories because they outweighed the bad ones.

On the morning of the tryouts Riley could feel herself getting nervous, the moment she opened her eyes she just stared at the ceiling wondering if this was the right thing to do. She sat up and noticed something taped to the bay window, when she walked over and opened the window to get the envelope she saw Lucas’ handwriting. When she opened it the note inside only said one line.

**_You can do it._ **

It was all she needed to get ready for school, she grabbed her sneakers and a pair of tights along with an extra-long sweater and got ready. She didn’t want to have too much clothing on before she had to change, she could audition in her tights and her gym clothes. When she walked into the kitchen she could see the tension from her family but she just smiled and sat down at the table.

“Morning Matthews Family,” Maya said walking inside the apartment. “Feed me.”

Riley laughed as her mother put down Riley’s favorite pancakes in front of her and placed a plate next to hers for Maya.

“Do they not feed you at your house?” her father said as Maya sat down at the table.

“Yes, but my mom went to the café early and my dad had an early morning assignment so he left at like five in the morning,” Maya said. Each time she called Shawn dad Riley smiled, she was happy that her best friend had that influence in her life.

The five of them ate in silence until her father got up to go to school, Maya and Riley left not to long afterwards. Walking to school instead of taking the subway, because it was a nice day and they didn’t want to waste the money on the train.

“Are you nervous?” Maya asked as they waited for the stop light to change.

“Not really, I mean I was a first but Lucas told me I could do it, and I worked so hard for this so I know all that’s really left is standing up and actually showing them that I’m good enough to be on the team.”

Riley could feel her self-confidence rising because she was doing something completely for herself, she was doing something selfish and going for what she wanted.

Her friends wished her luck throughout the day, Zay still thinking that it was a bad idea but wanting Riley to make her own decisions. Lucas sat in the bleachers being Riley’s only moral support at the tryouts, since everyone else had club activities that they couldn’t get out of. He was there sending messages to everyone in a group chat, with pictures of Riley in her gym clothes bouncing up and down.

“First round,” the head cheerleader said, before explaining what they had to do. The basic cheer was simple, Riley had been to enough pep rallies for Lucas that she had always admired the cheerleaders. She worked on the cheer while Lucas watched all week long, he constantly told her where she should put her feet so that she wouldn’t trip, or making sure she didn’t trip. He always encouraged her to work a little harder and it paid off when she did it with the rest of the girls trying out because she didn’t trip or mess up at all.

As they called out the names of girls moving to the next round Riley remembered the encouraging email she had received from Coach Kelly. She had sent it to her telling her that she was going to audition for cheerleading. Her former Coach wrote back, _Show them your spirit, it’s where you shine brightest_. Riley hadn’t expected those words but they had made her want to show the cheerleaders at Abigail Adams that she had what it took to be a part of their team.

Riley moved into the second round, and when she smiled at Lucas she noticed that Farkle and Smackle had joined him. They all gave her the thumbs up and waved before she had to move to the second round. This was the hardest part of the tryouts because she still hadn’t grasped tumbling, the most she could do was a split, a handstand, a cartwheel, and a backflip but that’s because she had practiced with Lucas so much that it started becoming normal.

She was surprised that she had made it to the third round because of that, but she realized that it was because a lot of the girls couldn’t do as much. It made her sad but it also made her want to try harder for the girls who didn’t make it on the team. This time when she looked over at her friends Maya and Zay had joined them, both of them sporting team Riley signs. Even though the both of them thought it was a bad idea, they still came out to support her.

The third round was the final round, they had to do a routine with the team, and then the names of who was picked would be announced the next day. Riley’s leg were tired, the tryouts had already lasted two hours, but she was determined to finish. The girls that were left, watched the team do a specific routine, each of them were given a specific team member that they were going to have to replace when it was their turn. Riley watched the team the same way she took notes in class, she couldn’t look away because one mistake would ruin the cheer completely for everyone else.

They called them up and placed them in their positions before blowing the whistle for them to start. Riley made sure to pay attention to not only her own steps but those of the people surrounding her so that if one of them messed up she could continue without making it seem like the other person had done something wrong. For some reason she had never wanted something so much in her life, because even though she doesn’t know what her talent really is she knows that if she could make people happy it would make her happy.

When the tryouts were done she sat down on the floor grateful that she had been able to get through it all. The current captain told everyone that the new team members would be announced in the morning and they should all go home and be proud to have gotten through the day with smiles on their faces. Lucas was the first to walk over to Riley only to make sure that she was alright. Riley smiled as she watched him come over, he was the reason she had the stamina to finish the whole routine.

“How’s my girl?” he asked as he sat down next to her.

“Exhausted, but happy that I made it this far,” she said with a grin on her face. The rest of her friends rushed over and piled on top of her in one giant group hug.

“Well sugar, I didn’t think I would ever say this, but I take back everything I said about you not being able to be a cheerleader,” Zay said smiling as he pulled away. “You were a star today.”

“Riles, you did great,” Maya said smiling.

“And she didn’t even break a bone,” Smackle blurted out making everyone laugh, while Farkle just looked at her shocked that she had said it. “Oh please you were all thinking it.”

“But we didn’t say it,” Farkle said to her.

Riley couldn’t help but laugh as she listened to Farkle and Smackle argue with each other about what’s appropriate to say to a person. Even through her tiredness she was happy to watch her friends banter and laugh around her. They all walked back to her house after Riley had changed, still laughing and smiling. When they left her on her door step Riley had gone up to her room and fell asleep without eating dinner, because she was tired only to wake up two hours later hungry. Her mother gave served her some food before telling her to shower and go back to bed.

The next morning the dread from the day before had returned only because she didn’t know if she was going to make the team. Maya showed up, with Lucas and Zay, to walk to school together, they wanted to be her moral support. They walked into school and saw the bulletin board at the end of the hallway, the list was already up and Riley’s heart was pounding in her chest.

“Do you wanna go look for me Peaches?” she said to Maya but the blonde shook her head.

“You have to do this Riles,” Maya said pushing her forward. Riley looked back at her friends with each step she took before closing her eyes and standing in front of the board.

“Count to three and I’ll open my eyes,” she said her eyes tightly shut.

Lucas started counting, “Okay, 1…2…3…”

Riley opened her eyes and looked, right there on the board at the top of the list was her name. She was shocked, she didn’t move which only made everyone else nervous so they rushed the board and looked.

“I made the team,” Riley said once the shock wore off. They all started cheering and hugging her, but all Riley wanted to do was fall to the floor in relief because she had done something she had always sought out to do.

“Riles you’re a cheerleader,” Maya said hugging her.

“I’m a cheerleader,” Riley screamed from the top of her lungs.


	15. Girl Meets Maya’s Choice

Life had never come easy for Maya, every day was filled with hard work, from her mother, to her teachers. They all wanted what was best for her, and she never thought hope existed, until she met a bubbly smiley little girl singing at her window. Riley taught her to hope even when everything was falling apart around her. Riley would hug her and make her feel better because she didn’t have a father. Even when she thought that her mother was the one to blame for everything Riley had been there to fix the problems and give her and her mother a chance at fixing their relationship.

But that relationship was still broken for months afterwards, as Maya sought the help of the Matthews constantly over the smallest of matters. It wasn’t until her mother married Shawn that Maya had finally given into the fact that Riley was right about something, there was always hope and that she shouldn’t stop believing in herself. Now Maya had not only a mother who was always around but a father who truly wanted to be there for her. Shawn was everything her own father couldn’t be, he talked to her, he made sure her mother was happy, and he even made sure that he adopted Maya. Just like her mother, she was now a Hunter.

There was one other thing that Riley had given her, and that’s hope for love from someone who would love her back. Even if that person was Riley’s Uncle Josh. She was seventeen and still struggling to grasp the fact that someday they might have something. But she wasn’t expecting to feel heartbroken at the sight of him with another girl inside the café that her and her friends went to every single day, the place where her mother worked, where she and Riley worked during the busy times.

Instead of talking to him, she turned and walked away, slowly at first until she was running at full speed towards her best friend’s apartment down the road. She didn’t bother going through the front door, instead going around the back and climbing up to Riley’s bay window. Riley was on her bed on her computer watching Red Planet Diaries and singing along to the theme song as Maya climbed through the window.

“Maya,” Riley said as she saw her best friend panting, and out of breath from running. “Are you okay?”

“I… ran… here,” she said trying to catch her breath. “Water…”

Riley rushed off to the kitchen before rushing back with a bottle of water and a worried look. Maya knew Riley was thinking the worse at that moment but she needed to breathe before she could talk to her best friend. After a few minutes she had finally been able to breathe when she looked up at her best friend’s worried face.

“Is it wrong to wait?” was the first thing that came out of her mouth. She knew it was the question that had been hanging over her head for a year, ever since Josh said that they should play the long game, even when he told her that it was alright to date and see where they would end up. Instead she waited, because she wanted Josh to be with her, except now it felt like her heart was breaking.

“To wait for what?” Riley asked, Maya knew that her best friend wouldn’t really understand unless she explained everything.

“For Josh,” Maya said. “I wanted to wait, I couldn’t really date anyone because he’s the one I’ve always liked but now it feels so… I feel so… stupid.”

“Oh Maya it’s not stupid,” Riley said hugging her. “I waited for Lucas for two years and look where we are, even with all the madness of the triangle and everything we went through we’re happier than ever.”

“But I just saw him with a girl… at the café… and all I could think was that I didn’t want to have a broken heart, I wanted everything now, but seeing him with another girl…”

“It feels wrong,” was all she said and all of a sudden that year, the triangle came back and she regretted every single thing that had happened. All of a sudden she was where Riley was and her heart broke. “Riles… I’m so sorry.”

“For what?”

“The triangle, the brother thing, for inserting myself in your relationship with Lucas because I couldn’t find myself,” she said realizing just how much she feared losing her friendship with Riley that she had hurt her instead by putting herself in between Riley and Lucas.

“Maya, that’s in the past,” Riley said squeezing her arm reassuring her. “We came out of it stronger and in the end it made us stronger as sisters, heck we’re cousins now.”

“Yeah but I feel like I caused you and Lucas so much pain, I mean you hid everything and Lucas held back because he didn’t want to hurt both of us. You guys deserved so much better than that.”

“Yeah, but if it hadn’t happened would you have been able to tell Josh how you really feel?”

“No,” she said after thinking about it for a minute.

“Then it’s settled. So what are you going to do now?”

“Maybe I do have to date someone, to see if what I feel for Josh isn’t some childhood crush.”

“Just stay away from Lucas,” Riley said smiling at her. Maya knew it was a joke but she was going to take it seriously. “And Farkle, because who knows what Smackle would do to you.”

Maya couldn’t help but laugh at that, the thought of the petite little genius coming after her was something she would like to see. But she was happy for Farkle for finding someone who matched him so completely but also challenged him to be a better person in every way. The same with Riley and Lucas, they were to halves of a whole, they made each other better people. Now she needed to find that for herself.

“Maybe Zay would like to go on a movie date, just the two of us,” Maya said after thinking about it. He had offered because he didn’t want her to sit around waiting for someday, it would be nice to have something that didn’t involve waiting.

“You should ask him,” Riley said smiling at her. “Maybe he would like that.”

“I’ll ask him tomorrow, but if we have to double, you and Lucas can come with us, but sit far away from us so that we could have a chance to talk.”

“Okay,” was all Riley said before she left.

On the way home all Maya could think was that it felt wrong to even think of asking Zay out, she wanted to have her moment with Josh, he was all that was on her mind, but it was time to move on. _Wasn’t it?_

\-------

Riley didn’t know what to think about what Maya was going to do, somehow the whole thing with Josh was spiraling and Maya was questioning her feelings again. It made her wonder just what her best friend had seen.

“Hey Riley,” her uncle Josh said as he walked in through her door.

“Oh come on,” she screamed out thinking about how Maya had just left and now he was showing up. This was the worst timing in the history of the world.

“Okay,” he said as he walked over and sat down at the bay window next to her. “What was that for?”

“Maya just left,” she said looking at his reaction, he looked sad to have missed her. For some reason they had grown closer over the last year but he never pushed because he was afraid of the age difference. “She saw you… at Topanga’s… with another girl.”

“That was my lab partner, we were studying for midterms,” he said. “Wait, I didn’t see Maya.”

“I know, she ran over here after she saw you,” Riley said, all of sudden wanting to get to the bottom of this insanity so that it wouldn’t drag on. “Josh, she’s going to go on a date with someone, because she doesn’t want to sit around waiting if you’re not going to wait.”

Josh looked defeated all of a sudden, almost like someone had kicked a puppy in front of him. “She’s allowed to,” he said but Riley knew he wasn’t happy about it. They had grown up together and she could tell when he was sad.

“Josh why exactly are you waiting? And don’t bring up the age difference because I’m starting to believe that it’s a lie that you’re using to keep her away. I saw the way you were looking at her during Halloween, during Christmas, at New Year’s. Josh you like her a lot but you keep pushing her away and at some point you’re going to lose her.”

He sighed and looked down at the floor. “I’m afraid,” he said.

“Of what?”

“Hurting her,” he said looking at her for the first time. “I don’t want her to lose herself because I broke her heart, I don’t want to cause her pain, I don’t want her to be… sad.”

“Josh,” Riley was thinking about what he was saying while at the same time realizing the amount her hurt he was putting on himself. He didn’t want to lose her because he loved her. “Why don’t you talk to her, you two have been talking for months, maybe it’s time to see where it all goes.”

“No,” he said. “Even if it hurts me, I want her to be happy no matter what.”

He stood up and walked out of the room, leaving Riley there to think about how she was going to fix everything before it all went to hell. But she couldn’t, this wasn’t something she could do because in the end she would be where Farkle was during eighth grade, spilling out a person’s secrets and having a triangle drag out.

Josh was going to hurt himself, Maya was going to go out on a date with Zay, and Zay who was innocent even though he had offered, was going to her hurt the worse if it didn’t work out.

“What am I going to do?” she said to herself.

\------

Maya woke up the next day feeling sad, she was going to let go of Josh, even if they had a chance at some point she shouldn’t wait. She needed to grow as much as possible. She sent a quick message to Zay asking him to meet her in the hole before class started. He said alright, but she still didn’t know what to say to him. She walked to Riley’s house afraid of what she was doing, normally she was fearless but for some reason she felt nervous. When she had asked Lucas out in seventh grade, she had only done it to make him ask Riley, she could fake it when it came to other people’s happiness. But now it felt like her entire body was shaking.

She met up with Riley, and they walked to school, but Maya didn’t say a word, and Riley stayed quiet. It was a quiet walk for the two of them who normally would talk until they were blue in the face. She was waiting for Riley to say something, to tell her that she was making a mistake, but nothing was said and they walked into the school and went off to their lockers. Maya sat in the corner of the hole watching everyone pass by, after a few minutes Zay came over and sat down next to her.

“What did you need to talk about?” he asked looking at her.

“Do you want to go out on a date?” she asked looking at his brown eyes wondering if she was going to feel the same excitement she felt whenever she looked into Josh’s blue eyes.

Zay looked at her surprised before smiling at her, “Sure.”


	16. Girl Meets The Return of the Triangle

Riley was trapped in something she didn’t want to be a part of, because she knew the truth of Josh’s feelings, because she knew Maya was trying to do one thing while feeling another way, because she didn’t want Zay to get hurt in the end. The triangle had started again but this time two of them were hiding their true feelings all because Maya saw Josh studying at Topanga’s. She felt sorry for what Farkle had to go through when he kept telling her to tell Lucas that she still liked him, but she didn’t want to be involved. And yet she was.

Maya had come over to get ready for her date, and Zay had convinced Lucas to make it a double date, and all Riley wanted to do was pull out her hair. Riley was wearing jeans and her favorite sweater, but Maya had pulled out half of her closet looking for the perfect outfit before settling for one of Riley’s long sleeved dresses and her own boots. She had tights underneath to keep her warm.

“How does this look?” Maya asked once she finished.

“It looks nice, just like the million other outfits you tried on,” Riley answered. She was trying to figure out how long it was going to take to put everything away when her mother called them down.

The guys had arrived, and although Zay was smiling, Riley felt sorry for him because she knew Maya liked Josh more than anyone and it was eating her up inside. Riley relaxed when she saw Lucas in his signature color, for some reason it calmed her.

“Come on let’s get going,” Lucas said smiling at her.

“Curfew’s at ten,” her father said as they walked out the door. It was Friday so Riley was allowed to stay out later but Lucas always made sure to have her home earlier because he didn’t want to offend her father.

The four of them walked to the crosstown train to go to Union Square to see the movie, Zay had brought the tickets for the movie so Riley didn’t know what they were going to see until he told them.

“Come on Zay tell me,” Riley said because she needed to prepare for the inevitable.

“It’s that new slasher movie,” he said smiling at Maya whose eyes lit up.

“Oh… I wanted to see that movie, the red band trailer is complete gore,” She said smiling at him.

Riley could only groan, she still hated horror movies and although she knew Maya loved them she couldn’t get used to seeing that much blood on the screen. Lucas squeezed her hand, reassuring her that it would be alright but she didn’t believe him as she saw Zay and Maya talking about the movie.

When they got to the theater Riley decided that she was going to sit in the back of the theater, Zay and Maya decided on picking the ones closest to the screen to get the best view of the action. Maya had wanted them to stay as far apart so that she could feel like she was on a date but all Riley wanted was to stay as far away as possible.

So Riley and Lucas sat in the back, while Maya and Zay sat in the middle ten rows down from them.

“I’m going to go to the bathroom before the movie starts,” she told Lucas as he sat down with their snacks. He nodded as she got up, the theater was empty enough for them to walk around without disturbing anyone.

When Riley stood outside the theater she took a deep breath and walked towards the bathroom only to bump into her uncle.

“Josh,” she said completely surprised to see him. “What are you doing here?”

“Well my dorm is close by so Andrew asked if we should see a movie,” he said, Riley noticed the dark circles around his eyes and knew that he had been thinking about what he had told him. “Are you here with Lucas?”

“Yeah, and Maya… and Zay,” she said as she watched his eyes look sadder than they already looked. “Josh…” he stopped her before she could say anything.

“It’s okay Riley,” he said before walking away. Riley forgot to ask him what movie they were watching only to see him sitting in the theater towards the far right side away from where Maya was. She saw him staring at the back of Maya’s head throughout the previews.

\--------

Maya was having a good time, Zay would comment on the most random things in the movie making her laugh.

“The guy doesn’t notice that,” he had said when one of the victims walked into a room where the killer was just standing in the dark corner with a knife. “The minute he opened the door the knife lit up, how does he not notice that.”

“Because he’s supposed to die,” Maya laughed.

The two of them kept up the banter throughout the movie, while they shared a tub of popcorn, Zay threw in a bag of skittles for fun and the salty sweetness of the snack made her smile. By the time the movie ended she was full of sugar and bouncing up and down from the excitement of the movie. When she saw Riley hiding behind Lucas, she couldn’t help but laugh.

“We have an hour before curfew so let’s walk around,” Zay said as they walked to the exit.

“We could walk home instead of taking the train, it’s a good long walk,” Maya said thinking about finding tacos somewhere. “Food carts outside sell all kinds of thinks so we can get something for the walk.”

“I’m for it,” he said.

“You two go ahead, I need to take Riley home, she didn’t really like the movie,” Lucas said as he hugged Riley to him.

“But why does it have to be so bloody,” was all that Riley said as he walked her down the street towards the subway.

“And then there was two,” Zay said. The two of them walked to the nearby park after grabbing food from one of the nearby trucks.

“I don’t know how a date should go,” Maya confessed. “The only ones I’ve been on were with Farkle and Lucas, and well Lucas ended up with a smoothie on his head and Farkle made out with my hand.”

“How did Farkle make-out with your hand?” Zay said sounding amused.

“Well it was Riley and Lucas’ first date,” she started. “This was a few months before you moved here from Texas, and well her dad being her dad wouldn’t let them go out unless I went out on a date with Farkle.”

“Seriously,” he said genuinely surprised. “Geez Mr. Matthews doesn’t play around when it comes to Riley, her little brother has more freedom than she does.”

“Tell me about it,” she said before telling him the story of her first date, skipping the part about seeing Josh with another girl. She didn’t want to ruin her time with Zay.

The two of them walked around the park for a little while before he walked her home, he told her stories about growing up in Texas, and she told him about growing up in New York. They talked about their best friends dating, and about possibly going out again. She was smiling by the time she got home, she liked Zay and thought they would be good together, but once she said goodnight to her parents and closed her bedroom door Josh’s face automatically came to her. Zay had been a distraction, and now she felt awful for going out with him.

\--------

Josh sat in his dorm room staring at the ceiling, his roommate had gone out to be with his girlfriend for the night so he was completely alone. Andrew had tried to get his attention while they were out at the movies but he had been distracted by a head of blonde hair sitting in the middle of the theater. After he had apologized to his friend he went to his room to sulk, and although he was completely alone, he didn’t want to be. Normally at this time of night he was texting Maya, it had become their normal routine, only now she had pushed herself away and he felt heartbroken.

He thought about what Riley had told him, to go after his feelings and tell Maya that he didn’t want to wait, but he didn’t want to put her in that position so instead he sulked. His phone rang in the background but he ignored it, but it kept ringing for a good ten minutes.

“I don’t want to talk,” he said to whoever was on the other side.

“Josh we need to talk,” his niece’s voice told him. “I know what you’re feeling, I’ve gone through that, and it took Farkle blurting out my feelings in front of everyone for me to be able to admit them to my friends. I don’t want you to go through that much hurt.”

“I don’t want to talk about it Riley,” he sighed covering his eyes trying to hid his face from the world. “I just want to be left alone.”

He hung up the phone before she could say anything else and turned it off so no one else could call. He was going to let her have her chance at happiness, even if it meant that he wouldn’t be able to see her face again.

\---------

Zay was happy that Maya had asked him out, on the way home he was bouncing around thinking of where he could take her next knowing that she liked specific types of things. He remembered hearing about a taco place near 32nd street and thought that he could go there with her. Smiling as he walked through the door he said goodnight to his parents before rushing up to his bedroom and jumping on his bed. The next date would be just the two of them, he wanted to make it memorable for her so he thought about everything they could do. Since he had never been to the top of the Empire State Building, he thought they could do that, Maya would draw a picture and it would be where he would give her their first kiss.

He had liked her ever since they started High School, after Vanessa had broken up with him and they stopped talking. He needed to think about the future and for some reason Maya was always there. He didn’t know what to say because of course Lucas and Riley were on the other side of that ridiculous triangle but even when it ended he still couldn’t say anything because Maya liked Josh and although he had suggested that they could go out. Maya didn’t say anything until now.

 _What had changed her mind?_ He thought to himself before pushing the idea out of his head because thinking about it would only cause him problems when he was finally getting some happiness.

Zay pulled out his phone and sent Maya a text, telling her about their next date, and when it should be. She suggested they do it the next day because she hadn’t had anything planned with Riley so she was free. He smiled when he saw the message and quickly started sending her the plans he had thought up. When they had finished talking, Maya had added a stop in Korea Town to get dessert and to go to karaoke before finishing at the top of the Empire State Building. They decided to meet up around five so that they could do everything before curfew, before he had started nodding off.

He felt happy as sleep came to him.

\---------

Riley couldn’t sleep, all she could think about was her conversations with Josh throughout the day. She needed to do something to fix everything because in the end she didn’t want anyone to get hurt. At that moment she knew the only person really hurting was Josh, because he was sacrificing his own happiness for Maya. _He loves her_ , was the only thought Riley had and she needed to talk to Lucas about everything before it ate her up from the inside. Everyone had always helped her so now she had to help them.

She sent him a quick text, _Lucas, are you awake?_ But when she looked at the time she realized that it was after two in the morning.

 _Yeah Riles I’m awake… kinda_ , he wrote to her. He would always answer her even if he were half asleep.

_I need to talk to you about something, do you think we can meet in the morning? I have to work at the café so can you meet me there?_

_Alright_ , he said before saying goodnight.

 _If he knew would he be rooting for Zay or for Josh?_ She thought before she fell asleep.


	17. Girl Meets Lucas’ Memory

Lucas woke up thinking that he dreamed of Riley and talking to her in the middle of the night, but he knew better because she’s usually asleep when he sends her messages in the middle of the night. But when he looked at his phone he realized that it had been real and that she wanted to meet him at the café. He looked at the clock and rushed to get dressed, he shift started the moment the doors opened but it was usually quiet this early on Saturday mornings, until just about noon when all the students woke up looking for coffee.

When he got to Topanga’s he noticed Riley automatically and how tired she looked, _had she slept at all?_ He wondered but then remembered the messages and realized that she hadn’t slept at all, so whatever it was that weigh on her mind was something huge.

“Hey Riley,” he said as he walked inside worried that she was going to collapse.

“Meg,” she called out to their weekend assistant manager. “I’m going to sit down if that’s okay?”

“Go ahead, it’s a quiet morning anyway, and drink some coffee you look dead on your feet,” Meg said as she took over the counter stocking up the pastries.

Riley sat down at a booth and slowly sipped her coffee, Lucas watched her worried because she looked so tired.

“I have to ask you about something,” she said as she finished her coffee.

“Go ahead, you asked me to meet you,” he said looking at her tired eyes. “But promise me you’ll get some sleep today?”

“I will, I only have a half shift today,” she said smiling at him. “I’m here until noon and then I’m gone.”

“I’ll wait for you if that’s okay… I don’t want you falling asleep somewhere.”

“Okay,” she said before yawning. “Anyway, I need to ask you something serious…um… about the triangle.”

Lucas didn’t know where this was coming from, it was the one part of their relationship that he had wanted to forget. Even though there had been some good times it had felt like more of a strain to not show that he liked one girl over the other.

“What do you want to know?” he asked afraid of the reason why she was asking.

“I want to tell you something but you have to swear that you won’t say anything,” she said her eyes pleading for him to keep whatever she was about to say between them. “Please.”

“Riley, you’re scaring me.”

“It’s just that it has to do with Zay… and Maya.”

“I promise, and if I break that promise I’ll run around the block in only shorts and sneakers the next time it snows.”

“That’s a little extreme but I’ll take your word for it,” she said looking at her empty cup. “So… you know how Zay is going on these dates with Maya right.”

“Yeah, he’s so excited about it.”

“Maya only asked him out because she saw Josh with another girl, and she thinks that she shouldn’t wait for him anymore.”

“Was he on a date with her?”

“No, they were studying for some midterm, but Maya has it in her head that the best way to get over her feelings for Josh is to go out with Zay and I don’t want Zay to get hurt.”

“What does the triangle have anything to do with Maya trying to move on?”

“Josh loves Maya,” she said and he could all of a sudden understand her reasoning towards the question about the triangle. “Josh is where I was when everything happened, he’s pushing his feelings aside because he’s afraid of what he feels for Maya and he doesn’t want to hurt her. Maya on the other hand is bringing Zay into all of this and in the end someone is going to get hurt…. So I wanted to know about how you felt during the triangle.”

“Well,” he started wondering where he should begin, so he decided to start at the beginning, “New Year’s was the best and worst day of my life, well second to when you called me your brother in Texas because I was going to ask you to be my girlfriend and you… well you know…” he took a deep breath trying to reconcile his feelings for something that had happened so long ago. “Anyway, being stuck between you and Maya was bad, but not as bad as losing you completely. I mean I liked Maya but it was more of a sibling rivalry, but it wasn’t what I was feeling for you, but I only did it because it was what you wanted.”

She couldn’t look him in the eye and he knew that she was thinking about other things. “How did you feel when I went out with Charlie?” she said after a minute.

“Honestly, it was like being kicked in the stomach repeatedly,” he sighed before he took her hand. “I didn’t like it Riley, it hurt but at the time I thought you honestly thought of us as siblings and I wanted to respect your feelings so I held back even though it was killing me from the inside.”

“Sorry,” she said.

“Riley, stop, everything that happened during that year was as much my fault as it was yours and Maya’s, I should have fought harder but I was too preoccupied with making sure I made you happy that I forgot that my feelings mattered as well.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” she said to him squeezing his hand. “Josh is going to fall apart, he says he’s doing it because he wants Maya to be happy, because he doesn’t want to hurt her and have her lose herself, but in the end she’s already losing herself trying to act like she needs to move on.”

“And in the end who is going to be hurt when everything comes out?”

“Zay, and I don’t want him to get hurt.”

“For Zay, I think he’s had this crush on Maya for a while, but even he knows somewhere deep down that it’s not what she feels for him. I think he knows how Maya feels about Josh but he wants that chance to prove himself.”

“What are we going to do?”

“We could lock all three of them in a room until they admit their feelings,” he said smiling. “It’s what I wanted to do with you.”

“You should have, we could have avoided a lot of things.”

“We’ll lock them in your room, we could have the windows locked, and prop your door with something so they won’t get out.”

“Okay,” she said, but he saw how tired she was. “Let me get back to work, we can plan later.”

“Okay,” he said getting up. “I’m going to run home and grab some rope because we’re going to fix this, even if I have to tie them to each other.”

\------------------------------------------

Riley worked until noon, only to have to stay when it started getting busy, for some reason they had a lot more people on a Saturday than usual. Lucas had stopped by to check on her, making sure to have her text Maya to meet her at the bay window at four before her date with Zay. He also told her that he had called Zay telling him to stop by her house to pick up something and that it couldn’t wait. Riley asked Josh to come meet her at Topanga’s and told him it was because her parents wanted him to come over for dinner. She felt bad for lying to all of them but she didn’t want this to get as far as it did after Texas so she made sure that they were all there.

When she walked into her room after her shift, she saw Maya waiting at the bay window wearing jeans and a sweater. “Come on Riles I have to meet Zay in twenty minutes,” she said looking at her phone to check the time.

“Just a minute,” she said as she pushed Zay into the room, he was tied up thanks to Lucas.

“What the hell?” Zay said as he landed on her bed. Lucas had done the same trick he had done on Maya during her fourteenth birthday. Lucas was behind her with a tied up Josh who looked grumpier than he had when she saw him the night before when she saw him at the movies.

“Okay Lucas,” she said to her boyfriend who caught Maya with his rope and tied her up too. The three sides of this current triangle were moved to the window where they were all tied up to each other.

“Explain before I kill you,” Maya said struggling against the ropes.

“Yeah Riley,” Josh said, he had looked as tired as Riley felt the only one who looked fine was Zay.

“You’re all going to go through an exercise,” Riley said looking at them all. “You all have to work out your feelings, because I’m not going to live through another Triangle.”

“What do you mean?” Zay said looking between all of them only to realize what was happening.

“Sorry Zay,” Riley said knowing that Zay had just realized the position he was in.

Riley and Lucas walked out of the room and locked the door behind them. At this moment it was up to the three people tied up in the room to figure out what they were going to do.

\------------

Maya couldn’t understand what was happening, she had told Riley about wanting to not wait for Josh, she had told her that she wanted to see if she could find something with Zay. Except now she was tied to the both of them, with so much rope between them that getting out was impossible.

“I’m going to kill them,” she said as she tried to get up, but was met with resistance.

“What did Riley mean about not living through another triangle?” Zay asked looking over at Maya.

She felt guilty all of a sudden, because she had used Zay as a way to get over Josh. “I don’t know, I really don’t.”

Josh just stayed quiet and it bothered her, he looked so tired and his eyes were puffy and she didn’t know why. She wanted to ask him if something had happened, if the girl he had been with had broken his heart but she couldn’t.

“Maya do you still like Josh,” Zay said when they had been silent for a few minutes, but she didn’t answer. “Maya, are you using me to get over Josh?”

The guilt was eating her up from the inside. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said trying to deflect from what he was asking.

“Damn,” he said as he looked out at Riley’s room. “I’m your Charlie Gardner.”

“What?” Maya said looking up at him, even Josh turned his head in surprise.

“Maya what’s he talking about?” Josh said for the first time.

“Maya is using me the same way Riley used Charlie to get over Lucas after she found out about Maya’s feelings for Lucas… when we were in Texas. So that means that you my friend are hiding something from her.”

“Josh?”

“I told her not to say anything to anyone,” he said looking down at the ground. “I wanted to let you have a chance at happiness, so I stepped back.”

“Oh for crying out loud,” Maya said throwing her head back.

“You and Riley I swear are like two peas in a pod,” Zay said. “I wonder if it’s a Matthews’ family trait, you know to hide your feelings and letting the person you love get away.”

“Zay I’m sorry,” Josh said looking over at the other boy. “No one was supposed to find out about any of this. I was just going to stay on campus and not come over.”

“My question is when did Maya decide to move forward?” Zay said looking directly at her. She felt like squirming from the look in his eye. “Maya, they did this for a reason, we have to be honest. Riley’s right our friendships can’t last through another triangle.”

“I saw Josh with another girl and I realized that I couldn’t keep waiting,” she said, as she sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

“So you asked me out because of that,” Zay said looking sad. “I guess it’s too much to ask that someone liked me.”

“No Zay, you’re a good guy, I guess I just went about all of this the wrong way,” she said trying to fix the situation.

“No it’s okay, at least I know the truth,” he said.

The door opened causing the tied up trio to look over and see Riley standing on the other side. “I’m sorry Zay,” she said looking at all of them. “I wanted to make this right before she asked you out but everything happened so fast I couldn’t figure out where to start.”

“It’s okay sugar,” he said smiling at her. “But you and Lucas both owe me one, the same goes for the two of you.”

“So what happens now?” Josh said looking at all of them.

“You tell her the truth for once,” Riley said as Lucas walked into the room and untied Zay, and they walked out into the hallway.

“Wait,” Maya said but the door was closed before she could say anything else.

“The truth huh,” Josh said looking over at Maya. “I guess that’s a good place to start.”

“What is the truth Josh?”

“Well,” he started. “The girl you saw me with was my lab partner, we were studying for our midterm.”

“Oh,” she said looking down feeling like she blew something completely out of proportion.

“I’m guessing right after you saw us you went to Riley, and made up this crazy plan to get over me. Which I find weird because we talk almost every day, Maya you know me better than my own niece and she figured out what was wrong with me.”

“Josh I don’t know you that well,” she said finally looking up at him. “If I did I would know why the age difference is such an issue with you.”

“It’s not the age difference that bothers me,” he sighed. “It should but it doesn’t because I’ve met couples at school who are five years apart. One of my friends from school is still dating his high school sweetheart and he met her when she was a freshman. They take everything slowly because they want to earn that trust, not only with themselves, but with their parents.”

“How old is she now? The girl I mean?”

“Well she’s twenty,” he said laughing. “Her boyfriend is seventeen, but he’s graduating early just so they could go to school together again.”

“Josh that’s the same as us,” Maya said trying not to smile. “But I still don’t understand why you kept pushing me away.”

“I didn’t… I didn’t want to hurt you,” he said to her and she saw the sadness in his eyes. “Maya ever since that trip, were we confessed to one another, we talked almost every night. We talked about everything, but I was afraid that if we got together you would lose yourself.”

“That’s not likely,” she said smiling at him. “It only happened once, and that’s because I was honestly afraid of losing Riley to Lucas, but now…. Well now I know that the best thing I could do is letting her figure it out for herself while I did the same for myself. We’re better friends now for it.”

“I think the reason why she did this was because she saw me at the movies, yesterday and she saw how heartbroken I was, she knows us both so well and we both go to extremes to do something even if it hurts us.”

“So, you like me like me, and you want to date?”

“Maybe,” he said smiling at her. “One step at a time… we could hold hands and kiss but that’s the extent of it.”

“I could deal with that.”

“I would also need permission from your mom and Shawn to date you, because I don’t want them killing me.”

“That could happen, maybe we can have dinner with them, and they can set some ground rules like how the Matthews did with Riley and Lucas.”

The door slammed open and the trio looked at them smiling.

“Finally,” Zay said laughing. “I mean I know you guys wanted to wait but this was a little extreme.”

“No hard feelings?” Maya asked looking over at him.

“No, I’m just happy you’re going to be happy.”

“Okay,” she said smiling.

“Can you untie us?” Josh asked looking over at Lucas. “I would like to feel my fingers you know.”

“Okay, but you’re not allowed to come after us,” Lucas said looking at the pair of them. “It was Riley’s idea and only because she was worried about the two of you.”

“Whatever,” Maya said but Lucas just looked at her. “Fine I promise I won’t go after you.”

They were untied but Riley ran away the moment Maya was free only because she had stomped her foot forward.

“What,” she said looking at the rest of the group. “I didn’t do anything.”

Lucas went after Riley, Zay left after them leaving Maya and Josh alone. “Don’t kill Riley,” Josh said before he grabbed her hand and led her out of the room, Maya laughing behind him.


	18. Girl Meets Isaiah

Zay watched the couples as they interacted, feeling like the odd man out he decided to call it a night and go home, saying a quick goodbye to his friends. But instead of going home he kept walking until he realized he had walked all the way for Riley’s house to Central Park, nearly fifty blocks. He couldn’t help but wonder how his life had gotten so out of hand that he went after someone who was emotionally unavailable. But then he remembered Vanessa, and how badly their relationship went before he started High School. Everything had been fine, his parents even let him spend most of the summer in Texas, but as soon as the school year started in Texas he was alone.

The day before he was set to go back to New York she had broken up with him, she wanted him to be able to go to school without worrying about her. They were thousands of miles apart and long distance relationships never worked. She wanted him to be happy, and not spend so much money on the girl who was so far away. But he had liked her more than she could have imagined and she let him go. Last time he checked she had started dating one of his old friends and he was alone, so his affections had turned to Maya.

As he walked back towards his house, not wanting to waste the money on the subway he thought about how Maya had become that person for him. But he couldn’t really think of anything concrete because in the end she was another Vanessa, someone he couldn’t really have. He needed to find someone for him, Maya had been the illusion for him, a beautiful blonde who was similar to his old life and had the life of a star, shining and bright. Vanessa had been his first everything, crush, kiss, girlfriend, and maybe even his first love but she wasn’t there for him.

When he had gotten home it was close to curfew, but instead of walking inside he sat down on the stoop and watched the cars pass by. Blurs of white and red on the street, going off in different directions just like his life. Maybe he had wanted to be a part of their circle of friends so much he had placed his heart on someone instead of just being their friend.

His mother noticed him sitting there and just sat down next to him, she didn’t ask questions she just placed her arm around him and hugged him close. His mother always knew when something was wrong, and always comforted him without questioning anything. He leaned into her warmth and cried in her arms, not because he had lost the chance to be with Maya but because he was afraid that his heart was doomed to never find love.

\----------------

Riley couldn't sleep that weekend, she felt terrible for what happened with Zay even though he said he was fine with it all. Throughout the day she felt spacey and couldn’t concentrate which earned her extra laps around the gym during cheer practice for not paying attention. By the time she got out she was exhausted and wanted to go to bed but instead she messaged Zay to meet her at the Bay Window. At first he hesitated, and said he shouldn’t but she insisted that he meet her there because they needed to talk.

“What do you need?” he said as he climbed in through the window where she was waiting.

“I’m sorry,” she said to him. “For everything that happened, for inserting myself into your life and getting between you and Maya.”

“Riley, it’s okay,” he sighed looking down at a pillow he had picked up. “I saw it coming I just wanted my chance with her. I mean we had one date and all, but she was distracted the whole time, and when she did give me a chance it felt… I don’t know weird.”

“You really liked her didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I mean the blonde beauty thing was all me,” he said looking at her as if he were confessing his sins. “I knew it got under Lucas’ skin because he liked you so much, but I wanted to know more and then when the triangle happened I guess who else could have her. Lucas was perfect but his heart wasn’t there and I felt guilty for playing a part in what happened between the three of you.”

“Sorry.”

“Stop, no more from that word or anything else, I don’t want pity I don’t want any of that, I just want to move on and see if there’s someone out there for me.”

“I could help with that,” she said giggling to herself. There was a junior on the cheerleading team who liked him but as cool as she acted when they practiced she was shy.

“Riley no you can’t I need to find it for myself, isn’t that what all this has taught me?”

“No,” she sighed pulling out her phone. “That’s the thing, Maya and Josh work now because I pushed them to actually admitting their feelings, I meddle, I fix people, Ohana is going to be tattoo on my body because you and me, and Lucas, Farkle, Maya, and Smackle are family.”

“This isn’t a Disney movie,” he said smiling at her. “It can’t be fixed like that.”

“No it’s not but we are a makeshift family and we help each other, now this girl is nice and older and a cheerleader, and most of all she’s very interested in you.”

She could see his face lighting up, she knew that she had gotten his attention and this was her goal.

“Riley, I have a bad history with cheerleaders.”

“No you don’t, you’re just scared of putting yourself out there and getting burned.”

“Fine you win,” he said throwing his hands up in the air. “Riley Matthews always wins.”

“I’ll introduce you on Friday night, I’ll have her meet us at Topanga’s,” she said smiling at him. “You’ll like her don’t worry. Now stay and have dinner with me and Auggie, since my parents are going out tonight.”

“Won’t Lucas be jealous?”

“Not really, I sent him a message that I needed to get to know you better. He understands, and he knows I feel guilty about what happened so he knew I would want to make it up to you.”

“Okay, well let’s eat.”

Auggie invited over Ava so they could watch a movie while they ate, so Riley got to know Zay better as a person. He had told her that he was an only child, because his mother couldn’t have any more kids after a miscarriage had gone horribly wrong. Explaining that this had been the reason his grandmother tried to instill certain qualities in him, hence the one cookie. She had told him that he was special and that’s why his parents loved him the most. He also explained why Lucas had been such a big part of his life in Texas and why losing his best friend had hurt especially when he started to pull away from him.

\--------------------

Zay felt lighter when he life Riley’s house that night, for some reason he could understand why she was such a good friend to all of them. She made sure that even when something bad happened that everyone was alright. It made him feel guilty for always making fun of the triangle when it was happening. The two of them decided to take a baking class once a month so that he could send his grandmother something, just how she sent him his cookie. Riley reminded him of his mother in that way, she was comforting when he needed her the most.

The rest of the week went by without so much of an incident for him, he noticed that he talked to Riley more often. Lucas had noticed and smiled at him, he would have thought that his best friend would have gotten jealous but instead he had patted him on the shoulder.

“You and Riley are getting closer,” Lucas said one afternoon while they were in the school gym working out.

“Yeah, you have a good girlfriend with her,” Zay told him. “I’m sorry about the comments I made while you were going through the triangle, seriously I’m sorry.”

“I know, and she does too.”

“Yeah but the more time we spend together, well it feels like I got a really cool sister who knows when I’m having a bad day and makes sure to ask about it. I’m glad you two found each other, she’s a good influence on you… well on everyone.”

“Well she had my heart, so I’m glad she found me too,” Lucas said and Zay could tell that he was hiding a blush that had creeped up on him.

“Man, you love her,” he said after a minute had passed. “You both may not say it to each other but you do. Don’t worry I won’t tell her, but remember if you hurt her, I’ll kick your ass.”

 “Get in line, I think her father has first dibs,” Lucas smiled. “I’m not going to jeopardize anything, she makes me a better person, but she also makes me smile, she’s my sunshine.”

The two of them laughed throughout their workout, and Zay realized that what he had wanted all along was what his best friend had found. That one girl who would bring out the best of him, and help him work through his worst qualities. He had decided that he needed to try to get it even if he would get hurt in the process.

When Friday came around he sat inside of Topanga’s dressed in his favorite shirt, his hair washed and brushed, he was wearing light cologne. All this because he told his mother that Riley was setting him up and she wanted him to look good. His father just told him to go with what his mother said because it was better than fighting against it. Riley had sent him a text that she would be there with Lucas to cheer him on but his heart was pounding in his chest.

When Riley walked in she smiled at him, and standing next to her was a beautiful girl with the darkest color hair but the brightest hazel eyes. His heart was pounding in his chest and he felt like all of the saliva in his mouth had dried up. Riley him that this beautiful girl had a crush on him, but he couldn’t figure out why, she looked like an angel.

“Zay,” Riley called out to him but he didn’t answer, he tripped over himself to stand up.

The girl in front of him laughed but tried to hide it and for some reason his brain told him to pull her hand away from her face. So when he did it he couldn’t figure out what to do, he felt like such a weirdo. So he pulled his hand back and stared at the ground.

“Sorry, I just wanted to see your smile,” he said putting his hands in his back pockets. He cleared his throat before introducing himself. “I’m Isaiah, but my friends call me Zay.”

“Hi,” she said and to him it felt like music in his ears. “My name is Cassie, well actually it’s Cassandra but everyone calls me Cassie.”

“Well I’ll just leave you two alone,” Riley said slipping away from them and walking over to Lucas and sitting with him.

Cassie, was a junior who had only joined the cheerleading team to try and make friends because she wasn’t the type to put herself in social situations. She told him that she had liked him since he had come into Abigail Adams because he seemed like he was so full of life, always laughing and making jokes, but also having a serious side. When she cheered at games she had done it in hopes of him noticing her, but he never did. So when Riley had joined the team, she had been given a chance so she befriended the brunette and automatically felt a friendship grow.

“She’s like that,” he said smiling. “She has a way of making everyone her friend and making sure they’re happy.”

“I liked that, I’ve always felt alone because I’ve always lived a very sheltered existence, blame it on strict Spanish parents,” Cassie told him about her Puerto Rican father and his tendency to make sure she never did anything wrong, and how suffocating it felt.

“Like Mr. Matthews with Riley, you should have seen him when Riley and Lucas became official he faked a heart attack, and even chased the poor guy down the street on night.”

“Yeah so we bonded over that, and eventually I told her... well that I liked you… and well here we are.”

“I’m glad,” he said feeling something stir in his chest. “I would like to get to know you more, if you would… um… like to.”

“That would be great.”

The two of them smiled at each other and talked about school, she was taking an extra year to finish, because although she was considered a junior, she had to take a semester off because her mother had gotten sick and she had stayed home to help out with her siblings. The school had allowed it but she had to stay an extra year because of it. He learned that she had twin brothers who were in kindergarten, and he told her the story of how he didn’t have siblings. The time went by so fast that they hadn’t gone anywhere, so they promised to go on another date. Instead of letting her go home alone, he decided to walk her so that they could keep talking, and when they got to her front door he realized that he lived on the other side of the block.

“We live in the same neighborhood,” he said surprised, since he had never seen her.

“Really,” she looked around surprised.

“Yeah I live over there,” he said pointing at his house down the street. “How have we never met?”

“I guess it wasn’t our time yet,” she smiled, and he realized that she could have been right, they both needed to get to know Riley before they could have met one another.

“Riley’s cupid,” he said smiling.

“Goodnight Zay,” Cassie said kissing him on the cheek before walking into her house. Zay could feel his face heat up as he wave at her. When he had gotten home he sent Riley a thank you text before going to talk to his mother about the girl he had just met. 


	19. Girl Meets Over Night Guest

It was April and the year had gone by so fast, that Riley couldn’t understand why so much had happened during one school year. She was tired, of the drama in her life, of the constant push and pull. Most of all she was just tired, all she did was study and write papers. It was Thursday night and she was in her room looking over her notes for Science, while Lucas read his book for English. Her parents were in the living room working, her father grading all of the papers that they had handed in the day before, her mother working on a case. Both of them were so busy that they hadn’t realize that Lucas had been in her room all afternoon and she didn’t care because he would run his fingers through her hair while she laid on his lap.

She was wearing her favorite sweats and her old John Quincy Adams gym shirt and it felt so comfortable. They were on the floor on top of her carpet, their notes spread out around them, while Sleeping at Last played in the background. The two of them hadn’t noticed when they had both nodded off and fell asleep. For some reason Riley had felt so comfortable just sleeping on the floor. During the night Lucas had wrapped his arms around her and Riley had laid her head on his chest. The music and the sound of his heart had been the best lullaby for her.

Her parents had been too tired to check on her like they normally did so they had gone to sleep without thinking to see if Lucas was still there. So when the morning light began to shine through Riley’s window at six in the morning she turned to grab her pillow only to be greeted by Lucas’ chest. She had to bite back a scream and nudged her boyfriend, but he had only pulled her closer and nuzzled his neck into her hair, making her giggle.

“Oh god,” she said trying not to giggle from the way he was trying to burrow his face into her neck like it was a pillow. “Lucas,” she whisper yelled at him. “Lucas wake up.”

“Five more minutes,” he mumbled before taking a deep breath.

“No, my parents can’t find you here,” she said shaking him. “Come on please wake up.”

He slowly opened his eyes and looked into hers before pulling away and looking around the room. “Oh man, did this really happen?”

“You slept over, and I don’t think my parents will like the fact that you’re here when they come to wake me up.”

“Crap,” he said standing up. The two of them gathered all of his stuff and shoved it into his bag, before he slowly walked towards the bay window. He gave her a quick kiss before rushing down the stairs. She watched as he ran home, knowing that he has to change into something else, she was also worried that his parents were going to yell at him.

“Riley,” her father screamed pounding at the door. “Open up.”

“Cory why are you yelling so early in the morning,” her mother’s voice said from the other side of her door.

Riley stood there afraid of her father for a minute, afraid that he had seen Lucas, _had he seen Lucas?_ Was all she could think.

“Aren’t you supposed to be headed to school for a meeting?” her mother asked but her father continued to pound on the door.

“Riley, I swear open the door,” he said and Riley knew she was in trouble.

She opened the door as slowly as she could but he pushed his way into the room making her fall backwards on the floor. Her mother rushed over to pick her up.

“Why was Lucas climbing out of your window at six in the morning?” her father said making her mother turn to her.

“It’s not what you think, we didn’t do anything,” Riley said automatically defending herself. “We were studying last night and we fell asleep and that’s all that happened I swear.”

“Lies,” her father screeched out.

Her mother was looking around the room noting the scattered notes on the floor, and the fact that Riley’s bed was still made.

“Daddy it’s the truth I swear, and usually you come to tell him to go home too,” she said pleading with him to understand.

“Cory,” her mother said taking her father’s hand. “Go to the meeting I’ll handle this, I don’t have to be at court until ten.”

“But Topanga,” he whined.

“Go now, you’re still a new teacher there so go.”

“Fine,” he said storming off only to come back. “I’ll deal with you later missy.”

Once he was gone her mother looked at her and smiled. “I believe you Riley,” she said before sitting down. “I think I was so wrapped up in work last night that I forgot to check in on you, but I know that Lucas is a good kid, and that you two wouldn’t do anything wrong.”

“I’m sorry we fell asleep,” Riley said as she sat at the bay window. “A lot has happened in the last few days, and I guess we’ve been a little over worked.”

“Do you want to hear a story?”

“Sure, why not.”

“When your father and I were freshmen in high school, Mr. Turner assigned us a project about the modern day views of sex and love, and so your father and I started working on a documentary.  Except we fell asleep at school and ended up staying there overnight,” her mother laughed at the memory. “Of course everyone thought we did something we didn’t but we didn’t do anything at all. Of course your father was now considered a god, which made me angry and I yelled at him and told him we wouldn’t be friends anymore. Your grandfather Alan made him realize that friendship was more important than popularity. So to apologize to me he told the truth in the documentary and we became friends again.”

“But we didn’t fall asleep at school,” Riley said when her mother finished.

“No but I don’t think your father would like to be reminded of that incident,” her mother smiled at her. “He likes to let you think that he never did anything that you are doing now, so maybe you should remind him.”

Riley couldn’t help but smile at what her mother was saying, she had given her a gem of a story, and a lesson for her father wrapped up all in one.

“Thanks mom,” she said smiling. “And I promise from now on I’ll put an alarm on my phone for when Lucas has to leave so this won’t happen again.”

“Good, now get ready for school while I start on breakfast.”

\----------------------------------

Lucas rushed home only to find the place empty, he couldn’t figure out why until he got to the kitchen and saw a note from his parents reminding him that they had gone away on an extended weekend for their anniversary. He realized that he wasn’t in trouble, but he knew that he had to do the right thing regardless, Riley had taught him that.

He got ready for school as quickly as possible before rushing off to school, he didn’t want to be late on top of doing something so incredibly stupid. When he walked up the stairs he was pulled aside by Farkle and Zay and pushed into the nearest bathroom. Farkle and Zay made sure that they were the only ones inside before locking the door and looking at him. Farkle looked mad at him, while Zay looked at him like he had done something amazing.

“What is going on?” Lucas said looking at his two friends.

“There’s a rumor going around school,” Zay said smiling. “That you and Riley did something.”

“They’re saying you two had sex,” Farkle said without the innuendos that Zay had been throwing around. “Is it true?”

“Of course not, where did you hear that from?” Lucas asked but looked over at Zay after the words came out of his mouth.

“Your mother called me to make sure that my parents kept an eye on you this weekend,” Zay smiled. “And of course I picked up the phone, and they asked if you were staying the night at my house because you hadn’t gotten home.”

“But you weren’t at his house,” Farkle said looking at him. “So when Mr. Matthews came in this morning he apparently was mumbling something about locking all of the windows and banning someone from the house.”

“Crap,” Lucas said running his hand through his hair. “Nothing happened, we were just studying and fell asleep… That’s it I swear.”

“I believe you,” Farkle said but Zay just looked at him.

“I believe you but, plus I doubt Riley would do anything like that,” Zay said after a minute. “What are we going to do about her father?”

“He’s going to hate me isn’t he?” Lucas said sliding down the wall. “What should I do?”

“Talk to Riley,” Farkle said pulling him up. “And don’t sit on the floor in here it’s gross.”

“Okay,” Lucas said. “I’m going to find Riley. I’ll see you guys in class.”

“Later,” Zay said walking away.

“I’ll try to deflect Mr. Matthews for a while,” Farkle said walking out of the bathroom.

\--------------------------------

Riley got to school just before the first bell rang, only to have everyone staring at her as she walked through the halls towards her locker. People whispering around her, until Maya pulled her towards the corner of the hallway near her locker.

“Is it true?” Maya asked looking at her. “That you and Ranger Rick did the nasty.”

“Maya,” Riley yelled at her friend. “Where did you hear about this?”

“It’s all over the school, apparently someone heard your dad mumbling something this morning, about his daughter’s virtue and how boys were evil.”

“Where’s Lucas?”

“The guys grabbed him and dragged him away,” Maya said looking her up and down.

“We didn’t do anything,” Riley said to her before yelling it out again loud enough for everyone to hear her.

“So what’s the story then?”

“Nothing we fell asleep studying, that’s it… nothing else except for the fact that we woke up the next day surrounded by our notes and the rising sun.”

“Seriously,” Maya said. “I was hoping to the patented Matthews freak out.”

“He’s still going to have it, knowing him he’s probably trying to rearrange his lesson plan, but since we had to read for this class he can’t really change anything.”

“What did your mom say?”

“Well nothing really, she actually looked at my room and noticed that I hadn’t slept in my bed.”

“This is why she’s a lawyer,” Maya said smiling. “And she didn’t want to make the same mistake as before.”

Lucas came rushing down the hallway towards them. “I didn’t say anything,” he said the moment he reached them.

“I know,” she said smiling at him. “But what are we going to do about everyone else?”

“Tell the truth until we’re blue in the face,” he said taking her hand.

The bell rang, leaving them in the hallway scrambling towards their classes. Riley got stares from everyone before she started telling them that nothing had happened, and that if they knew here they would know that she was telling the truth. By the time they reached her father’s class she wanted to pull out her hair.

“You,” he said to her and she rolled her eyes at him.

When Lucas walked in he scoffed and crumbled up a piece of paper, the entire class staring them all down as if they had done something.

“The Red Scare, during the late 1940’s brought up the question of loyalty towards the country of the United States,” her father started. “Starting with an Executive Order by President Truman, the people who worked within the Federal level were required to be screened for loyalty towards their country. To look for those who are disloyal to their country, who sympathized with the communist regime and would sell this country’s secrets to Communist countries during the Cold War.”

He walked around the room while he gave his lecture but wouldn’t look either Riley or Lucas in the face.

“From this the term McCarthyism was created, after United States Senator Joseph McCarthy, in which the practice of making accusations against people who were thought to be traitors towards their country. Many of these people were brought in front of investigators and the government without evidence in which they were guilty of their crime.”

“Wow this sounds familiar,” Riley said out loud without thinking.

“Miss Matthews don’t interrupt my lesson again,” he said looking at her for the first time since she had walked into class.

“No,” she said standing up. “I’m being accused of something without proper evidence, the entire school talking about me as if I have a scarlet letter on my chest.”

“Here we go,” Maya said smiling.

“My reputation is on the line because I have been accused of something that I didn’t even do, without regard to the truth.”

“Sit down Miss Matthews,” he said.

“No,” Lucas said standing up. “We did nothing wrong, and we deserve to be allowed our chance to stand up to the rumor of a few all because we were studying and just fell asleep.”

“This isn’t about you Mr. Friar,” her father said. “Class dismissed,” he said making everyone leave, but holding Lucas and Riley back. “Don’t interrupt my class unless it’s about the lesson.”

“That’s the thing dad you’re always teaching about my life, and of course when the lesson you’re teaching is about being accused of something that can ruin someone’s life, I’m allowed to speak up. That’s how you’ve always taught me.”

“I also taught you to be a good girl, and not let boys stay in your room overnight.”

“It was an accident, because usually some crazy dictator comes into my room and scares off the said boy, but like me that dictator is also extremely busy because he has work. So he slips up and when something as innocent as sleeping happens and he mumbles it around school the rumors begin.”

“Mr. Matthews, nothing happened, we were studying and we fell asleep, it was completely innocent and would never happen again,” Lucas said pleading towards her father.

“Plus we didn’t do anything that you haven’t already done,” Riley said nailing the last nail on the coffin of her social life.

“What are you talking about Riley?” her father said looking at her.

“Mom told me, how you were found in the same position when you were in high school, and of course nothing happened, well except mom being angry at you, and the entire student body thinking you were the man, but other than that nothing had really happened in that room so many years ago.”

He looked at her like she had grown a third head before speaking again, “Nothing happened you swear?”

“Well if you had taken the time to look at my room before you freaked out you would have noticed that nothing happened,” she said sighing. “My notes were all over the floor dad, it was innocent.”

Her father sat down, she knew he was thinking about last night, she knew he was going through everything in his mind. It was easy to tell when he was thinking about something, it wasn’t until the door burst open with Zay, Maya, Farkle, and Smackle that he looked up at her again.

“Fine you win, but we need to set some ground rules,” he said looking at her. “And I’m sorry, it was my fault that the rumors started.”

“Don’t worry about that Mr. Matthews,” Farkle said smiling. “We took care of that.”

“How?” her father said.

“Well we bugged the room and made sure it played over the PA system,” Smackle said smiling at them. “We know Riley, and we know Lucas, they wouldn’t do anything that would cause you to distrust them.”

“I’m going to have to have a talk with you two about doing things like that,” he said looking at Farkle and Smackle. “Okay, the bell is going to ring in a few minutes so get to your next class.”

“Bye Daddy,” Riley said walking out of the room smiling.

The rest of the day everyone talked about what they had heard, Riley realized how fast rumors can get started all because of something someone overheard. Thanks to the two geniuses everything had been cleared up, making her breathe a sigh of relief. Her parents took the blame for not checking on Riley before bed the night before, making sure to set a time for Lucas to leave, and an alarm on her father’s watch to chase him out. Lucas and Riley both set their alarms for ten minutes before so that Lucas would be able to keep his shoes, but she still smiled watching him being chased down the fire escape that night just because he had come over.

“Some things never change,” she said as she closed her window and got ready for bed.


	20. Girl Meets Fight

Everything in Riley’s life was going back to normal, and it made her happy because everyone is happy where they are in their lives. At least that’s what she wants to be happy about. In the end Riley knew that when everything falls into place something else falls apart. That’s how life is, it’s not a constant string of happy endings. Every once and a while it throws you a curve ball.

Of course on this particular day, she was let out of cheerleading practice early and went looking for her best friend. When she reached the art room she saw Maya’s bag on the floor next to her latest painting. It was a mirage of colors the images hidden in the art, just like when she painted a purple cat at the beginning of freshman year. Riley walked into the room to wait for Maya to finish so that they could meet their friends at Topanga’s to study.

On the way in she didn’t notice that the tarp had been raised off the ground and tripped over it, knocking over the tray of paint that had been left uncovered by Maya’s painting. All the paint spilled onto the painting before it fell to the ground. Riley’s hands were covered in paint as well as her uniform, but she started freaking out about the fact that Maya’s painting had been ruined.

The door on the other side of the room opened revealing her best friend. “Riley what the hell,” Maya screamed rushing over to the painting she had been working on.

“I didn’t mean to,” Riley said but as she started to explain herself, Maya started yelling at her.

“Riley this was supposed to be my entry into the city wide art contest, it was supposed to give me a chance at an exclusive summer program at NYU and you freaking ruined it. You can’t let me have anything can you, you have this need to ruin everything I’ve ever worked for.”

“But Maya,” Riley tried again but Maya was fuming at her.

“No buts, get the hell out of here,” Maya said looking at her ruined at piece. “I don’t want to see you right now.”

Riley didn’t move, she knew that if she left their friendship would be ruined, instead she watched Maya huff around the room in shock. Wondering if Maya was right about her ruining everything, but it hadn’t made any sense. Riley would give up everything for Maya, she would give Maya everything in the world. She had already gotten a father because Riley had meddled in her mother’s life.

“Maya,” Riley said but the blonde took a cup full of black paint and poured it on Riley’s head.

“Get the hell out now,” Maya said.

Riley got up and started crying trying to get to her best friend. “Ring power, Maya,” she said trying to get her best friend’s attention, but Maya only glared.

“No,” Maya said before grabbing her bag and rushing out of the room.

Riley couldn’t do anything but sit there and cry. Another incident in the last few months where no one listened to her side. Only this time it was from the person who had defended her last time. She didn’t want to go to the café anymore, all she wanted to do was go home and cry until Maya came over and talked to her. They were best friends and like everything in their lives this will be fixed. Instead she stayed behind and started cleaning the art supplies, and pulling Maya’s painting off the ground to see the damage.

\---------------------------------------

Maya couldn’t believe it, Riley had the audacity to ruin something she had been working on for weeks. She needed this chance because she would never get into a good school without help, and Riley ruined it in one minute. She walked into Topanga’s without thinking, her feet had lead her there.

“Hey Maya,” Farkle said looking up at her. “Where’s Riley?”

“How the hell should I know?” Maya said lashing out at the mention of Riley’s name.

“Because she was supposed to be with you, she got out early today and went to surprise you,” Zay said looking at her.

“She wanted to walk with you, she was really excited about it,” Cassie said to her. Maya felt like the Hispanic girl was replacing her, and it made her even more angry.

Maya knew that she really wasn’t but in the end she wanted to direct her anger at anyone. Lucas stood up and walked over to her, only to pull her out of the café.

“What the hell Ranger Rick?” she said as they stood outside.

“What happened to Riley?” he said looking directly into her eyes.

“You don’t scare me,” she said pushing him aside.

“Maya, I’ve never been too angry with you about anything, but Riley is always trying to make your life 100% better no matter what,” he said keeping her in place. “She was excited about seeing you today because you’ve been so busy lately dating Josh, and painting for that competition.”

“So,” was all she said to him.

“Even while she’s been my girlfriend she has made time for you a priority, and I have understood that. So again, where is she?”

“Fine, she’s probably home washing out the paint that she threw onto my painting, and the black paint I threw on her.”

“Do you think she did it on purpose? Riley?”

“I don’t care, just leave me alone,” she said pushing him aside.

Before he left he looked back at her, “I want you to think about something,” he said to her. “Would Riley ever do something to hurt you?”

With that he left her alone with her thoughts, and it only pissed her off even more because he was right. She had let her anger get the better of her.

\------------------------------------------

Lucas knew that whatever had happened was big, because Maya was angry, but he also knew Riley and instead of heading to her house he went back to school. When he found her, she was standing in the middle of the art room cleaning up the mess around her. She was trying to wipe away the tears that had fallen down her cheeks but it only made her smear more paint on her face.

“Riley,” Lucas said from the door way. She looked over at him and gave him a sad smile.

“Hi,” she said making him frown. He had known that Riley would still be in the art room, she was the first person to try and fix something even if it was an accident.

He pulled her into his arms and hugged her, the moment she was wrapped up in his warmth she started crying. “I messed up did I,” she said before her body started heaving from the sobs that broke out from her mouth. It only made him hold her closer, he knew that this was an accident, it was the only way that Riley would have done anything to Maya.

“Can you tell me what happened?” he said when she had finally calmed down.

“I came to get Maya,” she sniffled a bit as she said it. “The tarp thing was bunched up and I didn’t notice… so I ended up tripping on it and I knocked over the paint trying to grab onto something to break my fall.”

“Are you hurt anywhere?” he said feeling like it was a reflex because she always fell, not so much since they got to high school but he still worried.

“I might have a cut on my knee because the paint stings there,” she said. “And possibly a bruise on my arm… I can’t really tell.”

“Come on,” he said pulling away, his clothes stained in paint. “Let’s get you home and cleaned up.”

“Let’s clean up first, I want Maya to have a clean work area when she gets back.”

“Okay,” he said helping her.

\--------------------------------------------------

Maya stood outside the room listening to them, she had thought about what Lucas had said before he left, and she let her anger get the best of her. She wanted this chance so badly that she was blinded by finishing, so when she saw what had happened she had just let her anger take over.

“Feel like apologizing yet?” Mr. Matthews said from behind her, making her jump. “I was here when you started yelling at Riley, and well knowing Riley it was an accident and you just freaked out.”

“How do you know me so well?” she said turning to the man who had been her only father figure until Shawn came along.

“Well you and Shawn are alike, you get angry and storm off, only to come back to find a way to fix everything.”

“You have a story to go with that?”

“I have several but the one that I remember the most isn’t mine to tell, but I’ll tell you anyway,” he said pulling her over to the bench in the main hallway. “After I got married, Shawn was trying to find his mother, only to find out the woman who he thought was his mother, well she wasn’t, and the one who gave birth to him didn’t want anything to do with him. He was distraught and well made a horrible decision to get completely drunk, he pushed me away, he pushed everyone away, even after my parents told him that they would adopt him. They really care about him.”

“I know the feeling,” she sighed, feeling like she had been so blinded over something so ridiculous.

“Well we only ever lash out at those we love the most, because the ones who deserve it aren’t around. Maya I saw the painting, everything you put into it has to do with the stuff your father missed out on, so of course your real anger is directed towards him and not Riley.”

“So… um… what did Shawn do after well you know?”

“Well he talked to his dad, well he went to his grave and talked to him, of course I was there for him like I have always been,” he sighed remembering the memory of that day. “When he came back, he told my parents he didn’t want to be adopted, he wanted to become closer to the only family he had, his brother. But he asked my dad to yell at him like he yelled at his own kids because he never got that growing up.”

“So my anger is for my real father,” she sighed thinking about how good her life had been in the last two years and yet the man who had abandoned her as a child still played a role in her life. “Even with Shawn around m biological father is still there in the back of my mind.”

“Remember how I made you all do that forgiveness project?”

“Yeah,” she said looking down at her hands.

“Maybe you and Shawn can do it together this time, he needs to forgive his mother, in the same way you need to forgive your father, you don’t have to actually talk to them but you have to forgive them in your heart.”

She nodded thinking about what he was saying and for once, she knew that she needed to get over what had happened in the past. Her life had become a million times better since she met Riley. She got up and walked over to the art room.

“Thanks, Uncle Cory,” she said smiling before walking into the room and seeing Riley and Lucas standing there waiting for her. Maya ran up to Riley and hugged her tight. “I’m sorry,” was all she said.

“For what, I’m the one who tripped and messed up your painting,” Riley said. “I should be the one to say sorry.”

“No,” Maya stopped her. “I needed this to happen because I need to take a better look at the happy times, and not the sad ones. So you have given me a clean slate.”

Riley looked up noticing her father smiling in the doorway before looking back into Maya’s blue eyes. “I think you should pick bright colors, and paint about the love you get from your friends.”

Maya nodded, she told Riley and Lucas about what she had been feeling while painting, she told them about her conversation with Riley’s father. Riley understood, and the two of them laughed and hugged, saying their apologies to one another.

That night Maya took out a piece of paper and wrote to her father, telling him that although she couldn’t see him because it brought pain, she wanted to let go of what they once had and be happy with the life her mother and her adoptive father had given her. She told him that maybe one day they could meet again, but only after they write to one another, and properly talk without biting each other’s heads off. Real letters, not emails, no phone calls. For now this was the only way she was comfortable talking to him. She told her mother and Shawn about it and told Shawn that they both need to move forward from the past. Shawn agreed with her, but he told her that he had already sowed those demons, it was now Maya’s turn to deal with hers. She mailed the letter the next day, hoping that he would read it and write back.

She received a letter from him a week later, and that’s how she began to repair her relationship with her biological father.


	21. Girl Meets Talent

It was a warm spring day when Riley realized that she may have found her talent, although she hadn’t noticed it before. It had started with a few articles for a website she usually went to when she was alone and thinking about her future. She wrote to them, and sent them articles, but she hadn’t thought much about it. Most of the articles were about her love of fashion, or about the struggles of being a teenage girl. She used her mother’s maiden name, and the name of her purple cat Violet to hide that it was her.

Even her picture on the website was he in a wig hiding who she was because she didn’t want her friends to find out. She wrote about the triangle, her feelings for Lucas, her friends, her family, and all of her insecurities. The website constantly asked her for more articles, because they liked her writing style and so Violet Lawrence was born. Fashionista, with a very real backstory. They knew her real name and understood her need to stay hidden in the background because she didn’t want her friends and family to find out.

She hadn’t realized that it when she started writing for them that it would turn into something, she was a teenager after all. But after the first of her articles had become huge hits they asked for her parents’ permission to be a staff writer, at the age of sixteen Riley had accomplished something without anyone knowing. The problem was that now she had to tell everyone about it, and honestly she wasn’t ready for that.

The papers arrived by courier the next day, they only wanted one maybe two articles a month along with a column where she could talk with readers about their problems. Riley read over the papers over and over again. Wondering if she could forge her parents’ signatures, but knowing her mother, the lawyer, it wouldn’t go very well. It took her most of the afternoon to build up the courage to talk to her parents. She had told her friends that she couldn’t meet up with them but asked Lucas to come over later. She wanted him to know because he was the one who sent her the first link, she clicked on a link on the same website and found herself on a website that discussed everything from fashion to personal problems. He had given her this chance without even knowing that he did it, so he deserved to know before the rest of her friends did, this included Maya.

“Riley,” her mother called out forcing her to step away from her thoughts. “Lucas is here.”

Riley grabbed the papers and took them with her, she needed to talk to them before dinner and with Lucas there it would give her a little strength to say what she needed to say. When Riley walked into the living room her father was glaring at Lucas like he would do something as bad as sneezing just so he could kick him out.

“Mom,” Riley said trying her best not to crinkle the papers in her hand. “Daddy,” she said trying to get her father’s attention. “I need to talk to you about something.”

“You,” her father said looking at Lucas like he had done something wrong. She watched Auggie jump up off the couch and step between Lucas and her father.

“Lucas quick run, save yourself,” her brother yelled out pushing her father back.

“No Auggie,” her father said. “He did something wrong and now he must die.”

“I warned you,” Auggie said stepping away from her father and running to their mother. “Daddy is going to jail tonight.”

Her mother laughed but turned to Riley ignoring her husband chasing the teenage boy around the living room. “What do you want to talk to us about sweetie,” she said.

“Well… this,” she said handing her mother the contracts.

Her mother looked at the papers before looking back up to her. “Riley these are contracts, how did you get these?”

“Well that’s what I want to talk to you about but well,” she said pointing at the chase happening behind them.

“He always thinks the worse of everything,” Auggie said smiling at her. “I think daddy’s afraid of Lucas taking you away,” he whispered to her.

“Cory come sit down before you die from chasing Lucas around,” her mother said looking exasperated with her husband. “You forget that he’s an athlete.”

“Fine… but… only… because… I… can’t… breathe…,” he said before plopping himself on his chair trying to catch his breath.

Riley pulled Lucas towards the bench seat that Maya usually occupied when she was over, as her family looked at her.

“Okay Riley,” her mother said looking at her. “Explain this contract.”

“Wait…,” her father said slowly trying to suck air back into his lungs. “What… contract?”

“I wanted to talk to you about something I’ve been doing for a while,” Riley said smiling at them. “Remember back in January during the bullying incident?” The all nodded at her, Lucas taking her hand to calm her nerves down. “Well Lucas sent me a link to this website for teens and people who were going through a hard time to find comfort from others… and well I looked through the website and found a link to their main site, and well… um… they were asking for articles from regular people, and I wrote to them. So for the last couple of months I’ve sent them a couple of articles and stories for them to publish.”

“You’re a published writer,” her mother said surprise in her voice.

“Yes, for the website, and well I write under another name because… well a lot of what I write about is personal and I don’t want it to get back to anyone I know.”

“What name do you use?” Lucas asked looking at her.

“Well the last name is Lawrence,” she said smiling at her mother. “The first name is Violet.”

“The purple cat,” he said smiling at her, while she nodded at him.

“Is it alright if we read some of your writing?” her mother said to her.

Riley nodded smiling at her mother. “It’s alright, but remember a lot of it is things that are well in the past but I wrote it to give others the chance to look at it and remember to find the good in life when everything seems to be going really bad. I also wrote fashion articles, and make up articles on samples they’ve sent me.”

Her parents nodded knowing that Riley had gone through so much, “So the contracts are for?” her mother asked. Riley knew that the lawyer was coming out of her.

“Well I got a call from the editors a few days ago, and they want me to start writing an online Dear Abby column, and an article a month for their magazine. But this is up to you because I need your permission to do it.”

“So why is Lucas here?” her father asked.

“Well since he was the one who gave me the link, I figured he deserved to know before everyone else does,” she said smiling at Lucas. “It’s only fair.”

Her mother stood up and walked over to her and gave her a big hug, Riley was surprised by the sudden affection since she wasn’t done talking but she was happy to have her mother’s arms around her.

“I’m so proud of you Riley,” her mother said not letting go. Soon enough the rest of the Matthews clan came over and hugged her too. The four of them embraced until Riley pulled back.

“What the hell,” her father said smiling. “Come on Lucas,” he said pulling the green eyed boy into the embrace. “Thank you, for taking care of my daughter… even if I don’t show it all of the time, I’m glad you two met.”

Riley laughed hearing her father’s words because for the last four years Lucas has been a thorn at his side, always afraid of Lucas taking away his daughter.

“So what now?” her mother said once they all pulled apart.

“Well you’re the lawyer, so I’m thinking you read them and make sure there’s nothing weird on there, and that I can only work on certain days.”

“I can see if she could get credit at school for doing this,” her father said smiling at her. “Might as well use it to your advantage.”

“We also have to make sure her cheerleading schedule is a part of this,” Lucas said.

“And she had to have family time too,” Auggie said.

The five of them talked about how everything needed to work, just to make sure that she isn’t overwhelmed by it all. Riley decided that her current schedule was fine, since she had already done her writing during the days Lucas had his mandatory family dinner, and Maya would be with her family.

“No more working at the café,” her mother said once they had finished. “We can get Maya to work your shifts if she wants to work, or we can hire someone. I know Josh is looking for a part-time job.”

“Are you going to keep writing under your pseudonym?” her father asked right after her mother had finished.

“I would like to so that it doesn’t interferes with how people look at me when I’m in school,” Riley said trying to hide how she felt about everyone knowing that Riley Matthews was a known writer. “I mean Violet has a certain look to her, I made it up when I sent them the picture for my profile. They had asked why I didn’t want anyone to know and I told them that everyone already knew my business at school, so it would be nice to be someone else for once.”

“Okay, but remember when you start writing books in the future, use your real name,” Lucas said smiling. “You’re stories are as good as anything you can write for this magazine.”

“Deal,” she said smiling.

\--------------------------------------------

They decided on having everyone over for dinner on Saturday so that they had advanced notice about the day. Riley had told them that it was just a regular dinner, they just wanted the family to meet their grandchildren’s friends. She had also convinced Maya to use the day to tell the elder Matthews about her relationship with Josh. She had used every excuse she could so that no one would suspect the real reason for the dinner. 

She was in her room getting ready when Lucas knocked on her bedroom door. “Hey princess,” he said smiling at her, but she could feel her hands shaking. “What’s wrong?” he took her hand and sat her down on her bed holding her close hoping to calm her down.

“How do you tell people that you’ve been writing articles about them?” she said as it all hit her. “I mean I never mentioned them, and they were really all about my feelings on how the situations were but I wrote a lot of personal stuff on there.”

“Riley, honestly after you told me about the other day I read one of the articles,” he said and she could see sadness in his eyes. “It hurt me at first, but only because I wished so much that I had known about what you were feeling during the triangle.”

“Sorry I didn’t tell you how I felt… I just didn’t want you to feel like…”

“Riley I understand, just be honest with everyone, plus it’s a great step forward in your life, you know you have a talent in something. Plus you have a way of helping so many people,” he said smiling at her.

The two of them sat at there for a moment until her door swung open and Maya walked in with Farkle behind her.

“We’re not bothering you two are we?” Maya said trying to act innocent, before she pushed Lucas aside and sat next to Riley. “Too bad.”

“Hey Riley,” Farkle said smiling. “Your mom asked us to come and get you since the last person she sent up ended up staying up here.”

“Oh right,” Riley said standing up. “Family… downstairs… dinner.”

Lucas nodded his head taking her hand, Farkle and Maya both gave her a weird look but just shrugged it off. Riley knew that they were thinking that this was normal for Riley to be spacey. Once they were downstairs Riley saw her grandparents on the couch talking to her Uncle Eric about his job, while Uncle Shawn and Aunt Katy stood in the kitchen with her parents. Josh was sitting at the bay window with Zay and Cassie, while Smackle made goo goo eyes at him, until Farkle showed up and took her hand, and Maya sat down with Josh.

“This is our family,” her brother said walking up to her and hugging her, just as the front door opened and Ava smiled at him. “My woman’s here,” he said before rushing to meet her at the door.

“Everything is going to be alright,” Lucas said squeezing her hand.

Riley nodded at him and then looked over at her mother, they had gone through the contract with the magazine after school, and they were signed. The contract put her under a one year contract, to be revised at a later date if Riley wanted to stay with them. She nodded at her mother to tell her that it was time to tell everyone, dinner was done but they wanted to make the announcement before everyone ate.

Her mother pulled away from table with champagne glasses filled with sparkling cider, and started handing them out.

“Well isn’t this a fancy dinner party,” Maya said as she took the glass.

“Well we’re celebrating something,” her mother said smiling at everyone.

“Alright everyone gather around the table,” her father said smiling. “I have a lesson to teach.”

“But we’re not even in school,” Zay said while Farkle and Smackle both Yayed in the background. “Zip it you two,” he said glaring at the geniuses only to have everyone laugh.

“Anyway,” her father started. “A long time ago, a little girl once asked me what her purpose in life was, and how she was going to live up to the legacy that was her parents.” Everyone looked over at Riley and smiled, as her friends remembered that lesson. “Well a few days ago she ended up doing something that showed her that she not only had talent, but she would one day surpass her own parents.”

As her father spoke Riley felt so proud to be their daughter, because she had really received the best present in the world, and that was that she had them as her parents.

“Wait a minute,” Josh said.

“This is a party for Riley,” Maya finished.

Her mother laughed before nodding towards Riley, “Okay sweetheart, do you want to tell them?”

Lucas squeezed her hand and gave her a soft smile. “For the few months I’ve been writing articles for this online teen website, and they called me last week to tell me that they would like to have my article appear in their magazine, as well as run an online advice column for its readers.”

The entire room erupted in congratulations as everyone came in close to hug her before she finished telling them the whole story. She was so happy to have this many people in her life who were proud of her. Riley took out the magazine where her first article was set to appear, it was originally just supposed to be a one-time thing because of her age but they had told her that they wanted someone who would connect with their readers, so why not have an actual teenager on staff.

“Wait,” Maya squealed. “I know this magazine, everyone at school reads it.”

“I’ve been to the website,” Cassie said excitedly.

“I have also looked into it, although it’s not my kind of thing,” Smackle said as they flipped through the pages.

“You’re names not in here,” Maya said when she reached the table of contents.

“Actually,” Riley said making them all look up. “I use a pen name, mainly because I don’t want anyone at school to put two and two together. Especially since I write a lot of personal stuff on the articles I normally write for the website.”

“So what’s the name?” Josh asked as he looked over Maya’s shoulder.

“Violet Lawrence,” she said smiling at her mother once again.

The three girls all looked up at her like she had grown a third head.

“Riles,” Maya said. “I’ve read your articles… they’re about us?”

“Mostly our adventures, my feelings towards things, and random stuff,” she said trying not to feel like she violated her best friend’s privacy.

Instead Maya surprised her by giving her a hug. “Thank you,” she said in her ear. “You’ve given me more strength than you know.”

“Really Peaches?”

“Yes,” Maya said. “I loved those articles, it was nice to read something that was so encouraging especially considering how much we’ve gone through.”

They talked for the rest of the night, about what she’s writing, her schedule, and what it meant for her future. Riley was happy that the nerves she had felt earlier in the day were gone. Her friends and family loved her and they would stand behind her no matter what.


	22. Girl Meets Promposal

Lucas and Farkle sat inside of Farkle’s bedroom trying to come up with a plan, the dance was less than a month away and both of them were planning on how to ask their girlfriend’s to the Spring Formal. Lucas didn’t want to mess this up especially after the disaster that was the semi-formal in eighth grade. Farkle already had his way of asking Smackle to the dance, by using science that Lucas couldn’t understand and honestly didn’t want to understand. All he knew was that at some point something was going to blow up during science class and he was going to ask her that way.

For Lucas on the other hand he needed a way to top Charlie freaking Gardner’s attempt to ask Riley out in the eighth grade and he honestly couldn’t figure out how he was going to pull it off without having to write in the sky.

“Did you figure it out yet?” Farkle asked him for the seventh time that night and all he could do was sigh.

“No, I can’t seem to figure out how to do it,” he said more to himself than to his genius friend. “Why is it that Zay had it easy?”

“Because everything is still new with Cassie, all he had to do was ask,” Farkle said smiling at him. “It’s going to be their first date so in a way Zay has a lot more pressure than we do.”

“Farkle, Zay’s favorite movie is the Notebook, he lives and breathes romantic movies because of his mother, trust me he has it easy,” Lucas said trying not to feel like the weight of the world was on his shoulders.

“You just need to think of a place where you and Riley have a lot of memories,” Farkle said to him. “Like the Bay Window.”

“I don’t think her father would like for me to sneak into her room to set up a way to ask her to the dance, especially after the way he found me climbing down the window not too long ago trying to get away so we wouldn’t get caught… I haven’t been in her room since that day, and if I go in there I have to have supervision at all times.”

The two of them talked for another hour before they both gave up and Lucas went home, he didn’t know what to do. He wanted her to feel special but it’s impossible when he’s already called her a princess while on a horse.

“Wait a minute,” he said as the realization his him, the perfect way to ask her to the dance was to do what he had in the seventh grade. The horse and everything, with one difference, he needed to dress up as a prince, white horse and everything. To him she deserved to be swept off her feet, she had helped him through so much he needed to show how much he appreciated that, and how much she meant to him.

Instead of going home he walked back to Farkle’s place and barged into his room just as the genius was getting ready for bed.

“I know what I want to do,” he said startling his friend and making him jump up in the air.

“Geez Lucas couldn’t this have waited?”

“No because I need your help, I want to dress up as a prince,” Lucas said smiling. “As the beast from Beauty and the Beast, well minus the Beast part, but the same outfit from that scene in the ballroom. Riley loves that movie and showing up at school dress like that with a single rose would be perfect.”

“You have no idea how perfect it would be, I’ll ask my mother in the morning so that she can help with the clothes.”

“Thanks Farkle, you have no idea how much this means to me,” he said before turning around and heading towards the door. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Just let me sleep a little before you show up, it’s Saturday,” Farkle yelled at him as he left.

He couldn’t help but smile at the thought of doing this, and wondering if he would be able to pull it off especially since he had to plan the exact moment he could do it. The horse was out of the question because he didn’t want to get in trouble for bringing a horse to school on Monday.

\-------------------------------------

When he woke up the next morning it was after nine, his mother had been calling him downstairs for breakfast. When he got there he saw Zay stuffing himself with his mother’s signature blueberry pancakes and talking to her about Cassie. Lucas was happy that Zay was finding someone he really liked. For the last few weeks the two of them had gotten closer, although some of their “not dates,” didn’t end very well because Cassie’s parents would call her in the middle of their time together and make her go home to babysit.

“She’s perfect Mrs. Friar I swear, she likes the same music I do, and even gives me Spanish music she thinks I would like. She’s going to teach me to do the bachata,” he said excited to talk to someone about this wonderful girl. “Her mother’s Dominican so she knows all of these things, and her father is Puerto Rican but they travel to Spain all of the time.”

“Lucas, thank heaven,” his mother said dragging him into the kitchen. “I know you have plans with Farkle today, but please take Zay.”

“He’s a little much isn’t he,” Lucas said only to laugh when his mother shook her head.

“You have no idea, I mean I’m glad he’s found a girl that he likes but he hasn’t stopped talking, and I need to finish here before I go meet your father.”

“Don’t worry I got this,” he said as he took his seat next to his childhood friend, as his mother rushed off in the other direction.

“Did I say something?” Zay asked when he noticed that Lucas’ mother rushed off.

“Zay, my mother loves you but you can’t overwhelm her so early in the day.”

“I know it’s just that I’m so excited,” Zay said smiling at him. “What’s happening at Farkle’s?”

“Oh he’s helping me with asking Riley to the dance,” Lucas couldn’t help but smile. “Its three weeks away and I want it to be perfect.”

“I bet considering how much the last time you didn’t even ask her,” Zay said before looking at Lucas’ shocked face. “Sorry dude, I’m so sorry it just came out.”

“It’s okay,” Lucas said to him but the guilt starting eating away at him. “Anyway, let’s finish up breakfast and head over to Farkle’s.”

“Cool, I’ll play some games and you two can plan whatever it is you’re planning. I don’t want to know anything because in the end I’ll tell Cassie, and she’ll tell Riley and it wouldn’t be a surprise.”

“You really like her don’t you?”

“Yeah actually I do, and I’m glad Riley introduced us. It’s slow going but I kinda like it that way because we’re getting to know each other, we talk all of the time and it makes me happy. I now understand why you wanted to wait when it came to Riley, because talking really is the best thing we could do.”

“Plus you start learning all of her weird little quirks, and while everyone else thinks it’s weird you find yourself smiling every time she does something.”

“God, when did we become girls?”

“Nah, I think it’s normal when you like someone so much you can’t help but talk about them to other people. This is a good thing.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Zay said before eating his food.

When they reach Farkle’s place an hour later, and walk through the door, Mrs. Minkus quickly grabs Lucas and drags him into a room he had never seen before. Farkle right behind them, Zay quickly walks off towards Farkle’s room so that he could ignore what was happening.

“Explain please,” Lucas said looking at Farkle.

“My mother found the costume and she wants you to try it out so she could check the measurements,” Farkle said while his mother smiled at them.

“Farkle doesn’t let me do these kinds of things,” Mrs. Minkus said smiling.

“Yup, she’s a little crazy when it comes to costuming, and since my dad and I won’t indulge her she became excited when I talked to her about it after you left last night,” Farkle said smiling at him. “I’ll leave you two here and go get some food because I’m starved.”

“Bye sweetie,” Mrs. Minkus said before turning to Lucas. “Okay now put this one and come out here so that I can figure out how to make the adjustments.”

She handed him the outfit and Lucas was just astonished at how well made it was, it looked just like the one in the live action movie and he wondered how Riley would look in the Belle dress. He went to the dressing area and got dressed as quickly as he could, the costume itself fit perfectly with minor areas that needed work so when he walked out he saw Mrs. Minkus smiling.

“I knew I had it right, come here so I can fix your collar,” she said pulling him towards a pedestal, and working on outfitting him.

“Can I ask you a question?” he said because now he really wanted to see Riley in the Belle dress.

“Go ahead.”

“How well do you know Riley’s size?”

“You want the Belle dress for her don’t you?” she said surprising him. “I knew the minute I had this delivered this morning that Riley was going to need that dress, and I had my friend who works on those types of movies send me on in her size, Riley’s easy to dress, she actually likes coming in here.”

“You have no idea how much I owe you,” he said smiling at his best friend’s mother.

“Oh please I’m just happy that I got to help, my boys as much as I love them only indulge in certain parts of what I like to do so it’s nice to actually do this, plus it helps me when I’m working on designs.”

“Can I ask what you do? I mean I know what your husband does because Farkle talks about it so much but I don’t know what you do.”

“Oh I work in costume design, mainly for Broadway and Hollywood films but I’m only good at alterations, I have people who work on everything else after the designs are done.”

“Well you’re very talented and I think that Farkle and your husband should be very proud of you,” Lucas said smiling at Mrs. Minkus who had tears in her eyes. Farkle loved his mother but Lucas needed to tell him to ask for her help in these things more often. “I have an idea, maybe you can help Farkle and Smackle with their clothes for the dance too. You need to bond with them, I know that much.”

“Well if you convince him, then I will do it,” she said smiling.

They worked together for another hour, as she told Lucas how to care for the outfit, Lucas told her that he would wear it to the dance as long as Riley wears the Belle dress. By the time they were done, Riley’s dress was packed up in a box with a giant bow on the top for his promprosal, and his outfit was in a garment bag. They decided that Farkle would help sneak it into the school before lunch so that no one knew what was happening.

\-------------------------------------------------

“Maya,” Riley said on Monday morning as she felt déjà vu starting all over again. “Why hasn’t Lucas asked me to the Spring Formal?”

“Oh god,” Maya groaned. “Not this again, we’ve been through this haven’t we. I mean didn’t you guys decide a long time ago that you didn’t need to ask each to dances?”

“Yeah but a girl still wants to be asked,” Riley sighed. “I mean Farkle asked Smackle during science using chemicals, and although it was weird it was very them. They’re so cute and here I am waiting. What if another Charlie Gardner shows up and I mess things up again.”

Maya grabbed Riley’s face and squished her cheeks. “Riley, everyone in this school knows that you two are a thing, no one is going to ask you. Now can we go to lunch because I’m starving and as much as I would love to deal with your little freak out, well honestly I’m hungry and I don’t care.”

“Hey,” Cassie said catching up to them. “I need some help… Zay asked me to the dance and I don’t have anything to wear.”

Maya and Riley both looked at each other and smiled. “We can help with that,” Maya said pulling Cassie close.

“Hello,” Smackle said looking at the trio. “I too need help with this dilemma.”

“Aww,” Riley said. “See they have dates, what about you Maya?”

“Well… um… Josh wants to take me,” Maya said making Riley squeal.

“How did he ask you?” Cassie asked knowing only the small details of Maya’s relationship with Josh.

“He showed up at my bedroom window, with a bouquet of flowers,” Maya said blushing. “They were lilies, and he asked me if he could take me.” 

“See, this is what I want, a small gesture, something, anything,” Riley said throwing her hands up in the air.

The four girls made their way through the lunch line as Riley wondered if she should be the one doing the asking since Lucas hadn’t. When they sat down at their regular table she had all but given up on the idea while they discussed dress shopping. Farkle and Zay both sat down with them a few minutes later.

“Isadora,” Farkle said stealing his girlfriend’s attention. “My mother wants to help us with our outfits for the dance.”

“That sounds interesting,” Smackle said making Riley smile. “I would greatly appreciate her input on what we should wear to the dance.”

“Aww, you guys are so cute,” Cassie said smiling at them. “I ship this.”

“Cass, we all do,” Zay said smiling at her which only made her blush.

“Hey where’s Lucas?” Riley said when she realized that she hadn’t seen her boyfriend at all.

“Your dad held him back for a minute he should be here soon,” Farkle said while looking at his girlfriend.

All of a sudden instrumental music began playing in the cafeteria making Riley look around to see where it was coming from, only to see the doors open and reveal Lucas standing on the other side wearing an outfit that looked out of a movie. It took Riley a minute to realize that it was the same outfit that the Beast wore in the live action Beauty and the Beast movie.

“Oh… my… god…” she said as the rest of her friends turned to look at the doors. Farkle smiled at Riley as if he was in on the ruse, and now Riley understood what was happening. She could hear girls squealing throughout the cafeteria as he walked towards her. His eyes were on her and her alone, making her forget that she was in a room full of her classmates and instead she felt like a princess waiting for her prince. Holding a single rose Lucas kneeled in front of her and smiled.

“Riley Matthews,” he said as his green eyes met her brown ones. “It would be a great honor to be your date to the Spring Formal.”

Riley was speechless as she smiled at him, all she could do was nod and smile, as he took her hand and placed the flower on her palm before standing up and kissing her on the lips.

“Yes, Lucas I will go with you to the dance,” she finally said making him smile as he picked her up and twirled her around. She hadn’t noticed when Farkle had walked away and came back handing Lucas a box, wrapped in gold sparkly paper with a giant ribbon on the top.

“What’s that?” Maya asked as Lucas handed Riley the box.

“It’s something I would like Riley to wear to the dance,” he said smiling.

All of the girls in the room giggled around them as Riley slowly opened the box to reveal a yellow and gold dress that looked like Belle’s dress from the movie. She looked down at the dress and back to Lucas and then back down to the dress.

“How?”

“I had a little help from Mrs. Minkus,” he said smiling.

“This is so beautiful,” Riley said as she held the dress close. “So does this mean that we’re going to be Beauty and the Beast for the dance?” she asked as she placed the dress down on the chair.

“If you wouldn’t mind?”

“It’s perfect, I love it,” she said as she jumped into his arms and kissed him on the lips. He smiled at her once she pulled away, she couldn’t be happier.

“If they’re going as Beauty and the Beast I want to go as Cinderella,” Maya said making Riley laugh.

“Do you think your mom would be willing to make us all into Princesses?” Cassie asked Farkle soon afterwards.

“I wouldn’t mind this either,” Smackle said.

“Lucas you’re making my life hard here man,” Zay said smiling at Cassie. “But if it makes the girls happy, we should go for it.”

“I think my mom would love it,” Farkle said smiling at his friends.


	23. Girl Meets The One that Got Away

Joshua Matthews never thought about the consequences of losing Maya until he talked to his oldest brother Eric, not so naïve Eric who loved a girl for so long yet let her get away. He let her fall for someone else, and comforted her whenever her relationships didn’t end well. Josh watched his brother’s smiles and they reminded him of Riley’s voice when she told him about the triangle, even when she wanted to end it and let Maya have everything, it was the same feeling he got whenever she told him anything about Maya and someone else. The Matthews weren’t the best at taking what they wanted, and most of the time hurt themselves in order for the ones they cared about to be happy.

Then he thought about his brother Cory, and how he had been the luckiest person in the world to have found Topanga, and while they had their problems they were happy because they were together. For a long time he wondered how Cory had gotten so lucky to meet Topanga, but now he thinks about Maya the same way. He’s known her for years, and her persistence was one thing he was glad about, even when he almost messed everything up by letting her go. Maya was the sun in his life, and if it wasn’t for Riley he doesn’t know if he would have ever met her.

Riley had told him about the dance that was coming up, and with the permission of both Shawn and Cory he had asked her to the dance. They hadn’t had the chance to go on a date, but lately their shifts at Topanga’s had been the same. They talked about almost anything and he smiled when she started talking about art, he knew that she was passionate about it but he also knew how scared she was for liking something. He knew her fears and he tried his best to help her work through them. Lately they talked about her father, she had told him about how it felt when he left. Whenever she became emotional over her father he would take her hand in his and give it a squeeze, before bringing up to his lips and kissing it. They still hadn’t had their first kiss, he wanted it to be special because like everyone else he knew moments were important. So they planned on going to the dance, and Josh planned on the perfect moment to kiss her. She wanted to go as Cinderella and he was fine with it because was he was excited to see her in her dress.

A week before the dance he dropped by to see his brother Cory, only to sit in the living room with Riley and talk about the dance, when there was a thud on the door.

“Come in Uncle Eric,” Riley yelled at the door.

“How do you know it’s him?” Josh asked looking at the door.

“He’s the only one who knocks like that.”

Eric opened the door and stood there for a moment, he was dressed in a suit making Josh smile because his brother was reelected to the New York State senate, which surprised him but Josh knew his brother was good at his job. He believed in the people so of course they believed in him.

“Hello niche,” he said when he saw Riley. “My brother.”

“My brother,” Josh said hugging his brother. “What brings you to our neighborhood?”

“Vacation… they told me to take it and stop working so much,” he said smiling. “But the people need me so I’m just going to take the weekend off and hang with my brothers’ and my family here. Next weekend I’m going to visit mom and dad.”

“Cool,” Riley said as Eric sat down. “It’s so nice to see you Uncle Eric.”

“It’s nice to see the two of you, now tell me stuff.”

The two of them told him about their lives, and about their relationships, it wasn’t lost on either Josh or Riley how Eric looked at them with longing in his eyes.

“So Eric,” Josh said. “Anyone special in your life?”

“No,” Eric said his eyes trained on the floor. “No one special.”

Riley looked at Josh and smiled and he automatically knew that she was planning something in her head, and as much as he would like to stop her, he wanted his brother to be happy.

“I have to go,” Josh said getting up. “My shift starts soon, and Maya is waiting so I’ll see you guys later.”

Josh ran out of the apartment before he could hear what Riley was going to say, he didn’t want to know anything about her plans because that was the only way it had worked for him. If it hadn’t been for her meddling he wouldn’t be in a relationship with Maya, so he wanted to give Eric the same chance.

Riley watched Josh run out of the apartment, he knew what she was thinking and she loved her youngest Uncle for that. She looked back at a tired Eric who had shrugged off his suit jack and sigh.

“Hey Uncle Eric,” Riley said smiling at him. “Do you want some Mac and Cheese?”

“Sure I can eat some and hang with my niche,” he said as he walked with her towards the kitchen. “Talk to me little pangers.”

“You knew I wanted to say something?”

“I know my family,” he smiled. “Now say what you want to say.”

“Well… did you love Rachel?”

“Like a sister,” he said but Riley knew he didn’t mean it.

“I tried to love Lucas like he was my brother,” Riley said as she took out two bowls and filled them up with the mac and cheese she had been baking when Josh had come over. “It didn’t work out too well, it slowly ate me from the inside and had me feeling like I was letting go of the one person I could truly love, but that was better than losing them completely.”

“How did it work out in the end?”

“Well in the end I was stuck in a love triangle with my best friend and the guy I liked, but in reality he liked me the most and just didn’t want to hurt my best friend,” Riley sighed thinking back to the triangle, for some reason it keeps coming back in her mind, but she was learning from it each time. “Plus Maya is in love with Josh, so in the end whatever she actually felt for Lucas was because she wanted to make sure that I wasn’t rushing into anything.”

“So what does this have to do with me?” Eric said after she was finished talking and the two of them had sat down at the table to eat their food.

“I think you gave up Rachel for the same reason, except you allowed her to truly believe that it was better for the two of you to be friends, when in the end even after all of these years you love her with all of your heart.”

“But she’s still in my life,” he said before shoving his food in his mouth. “I see her all of the time.”

“How would you feel it you never saw her again?”

He didn’t have an answer to her question, but Riley could tell by the sadness in his eyes that he would feel lost. They talked all of the time, they hung out, and even went out to dinner once a month.

“You love her Uncle Eric,” Riley said. “Even though she’s in your life, in your heart she’s the one that got away, and honestly if I hadn’t lived through that pain when I did I would never have thought that this family has a problem. My parents are Cory and Topanga, they’re the perfect couple, but the rest of us, you, Josh, and even me, we would sacrifice everything for the person we love as long as they’re happy. It’s time we all go after what we want instead of sacrificing our hearts for the sake of others.”

“You’ve learned a lot in the last couple of years haven’t you Riley,” he said smiling at her.

“Well I had to grow up, and it helps that I found out that love and relationships take work, they aren’t instant, but sometimes if you’re lucky you get to grow with that person.”

“So what should I do?”

“Well we need some chaperones for the dance, you and Rachel could volunteer and maybe while you’re dancing with her you could tell her how you really feel. Take a chance for once Uncle Eric, this is bigger than being Senator.”

\------------------------------------------------------

Maya was standing behind the register at Topanga’s waiting for Josh to show up her shift was over and he was supposed to meet her there but he was late. She wasn’t mad, which was weird, but she was excited since they had the rest of the night to themselves and they were going to hang out. When he walked through the door he had a bouquet of yellow tulips in his hand and he was smiling.

“Is that why you’re late?” she asked smiling at him.

“Yeah, I saw them and they reminded me of your hair, so I thought I would give them to you,” he said as he reached her. “Here, for the most beautiful girl in the world.”

“Aww,” her mother said. “Well aren’t you two adorable.”

“Mom,” Maya said feeling the heat rise to her cheeks.

“Wait,” Josh said pulling out a small box and handing it to her mother. “These are for you, and you can share them with Shawn.”

“Oh this one’s a keeper,” her mother said as Maya grabbed her mother’s hand and pulled her away. “Maya, I need to get to know that boy, and you promised.”

“I know, so how about we have dinner together this weekend,” Maya said trying not to feel like she was asking permission for something.

“That would be great,” her mother said hugging her. “Now give me those flowers and go out with your boyfriend.”

“Thanks mom,” Maya said as the left the flowers on the counter and grabbed her jacket so that she could meet up with Josh. “Josh, we’re having lunch with my mom and Shawn this weekend… if that’s alright.”

“That’s fine with me,” he said smiling. “Come on, I don’t want to be late for the show.”

“Where are we going anyway?”

“There’s an old theater that’s playing the original Halloween movies, I figure we can watch one tonight.”

“You are the perfect man,” she said as he laughed.

He took her hand as they left Topanga’s, and he never let go of hers, not when they hand to go into the theater, not even when they were on line for their popcorn. Throughout the movie they talked, either about the movie or what was going on that day. When the movie ended and everyone was filing out of the theater, they stayed behind until they were the last ones and walked out hand in hand. Maya wondered when he would kiss her, or if he was still waiting, on the train ride home she looked up and met his blue eyes and felt herself blush. She finally understood all of the references Riley made when she was with Lucas, the cutesy things that she had always gagged at. This is what it felt like to fall for someone, to fall so deeply that you have conversations about everything and nothing at the same time, to fall so deeply that all it took was one look to get her heart racing in her chest.

They walked out of the station and up the stairs never letting go, wishing the night wasn’t ending and that they could talk longer. But when they reached the entrance of her building she knew that they needed to let go of one another. So she gathered up all her courage and did the one thing that Riley had taught her, and that was to take a chance. She quickly grabbed Josh’s face and gave him a quick kiss on the lips before pulling away. She didn’t let go of his face and stared into his eyes, almost as if she was going to drown.

“I wasn’t expecting that,” he said smiling at her. “But it’s the most perfect moment that I’ve had in my entire life.”

“Really?” she said surprised.

“Yes,” he said before pushing a stray hair aside and touching her cheek before kissing her. When they separated and he walked away towards his dorm, she could still feel the softness of his hands on her face. The heat of his lips on hers, and the feeling that the moment would forever stay with her.

\---------------------------------------------------------

When the night of the dance came everyone went over to Farkle’s place, his mother had made variations of princess dresses for all of the girls, Riley of course was Belle to match Lucas, Maya was Cinderella and Josh was her Prince, Cassie and Zay opted to be their own version Rapunzel and Flynn Rider, and Smackle became Snow White but a smarter on who wouldn’t eat the apple, because she’s always liked the dress. Farkle laughed because it was the girliest thing that Smackle had ever said to them.

The dance was the last thing on Riley’s mind though, she was worried about how her Uncle Eric was going to act when Rachel showed up. She had told him, that maybe he should take a risk on the beautiful red head, since she wasn’t currently in a relationship. She wanted him to have the best even when he didn’t think he deserved it.

"Where's your head at?" Lucas asked her as they left the Minkus’ penthouse.

“Well I may have encouraged my Uncle Eric to ask someone out at the dance, and well if it goes wrong… I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she told him.

“Don’t worry,” he said taking her hand and giving it a soft kiss. “Everything will be fine, let’s go to the dance and have a little fun.”

She nodded at him and smiled as the group made their way towards the car that their parents had rented for them. The driver took them to school, and as they entered the dance everyone looked at them, some looked at them like they were ridiculous, while others were looking in awe. Riley smiled as the group moved towards where the school had set up a photo booth. The four girls went in first smiling as they acted like bratty princesses, and like innocent princesses, when the guys came up behind each of them. They all stood together taking one group photo before each couple took their own pictures together. Since Riley and Lucas went first they watched each couple smile at the camera.

“You did that,” Lucas whispered in her ear. “They’re all happy, and you’re responsible for that.”

“I’m just happy that no one ended up heartbroken, and that Zay and Cassie are hitting it off, she talks about him all of the time,” she smiled. “Did you know that they talk on the phone before bed?”

“No, you should have seen him the day Farkle helped me with the costume, he cornered my mother and talked non-stop about this girl who had pretty much taken his heart.”

“I’m glad,” she said smiling. “I was worried for a while about their relationship because it felt like I was meddling, but they’re happy and maybe one day they will be comfortable enough to actually make it official.”

Lucas smiled at her and pulled her towards the side of the room, “Come on,” he said as they walked.

“Where are we going?”

“To find your Uncle, and the red head, we can eavesdrop.”

“Lucas we would look super obvious in these outfits,” she said giggling.

They spotted her Uncle Eric standing at the other end of the room talking to her father when her mother and Aunt Rachel walked in through the door. Her mother had caught onto Riley’s plan the minute she heard about them both agreeing to chaperone the dance. She sent Riley and Lucas a quick wink from across the room before pulling her father away to the other side of the room.

“I think your mother is helping us,” Lucas said smiling at Riley.

“Well let’s get to this,” she said pulling him towards her Uncle. “Uncle Eric,” she smiled as they walked up to the pair.

“My niche,” Eric smiled at them, “you came with Scarecrow.”

Riley gave him a quick hug before turning to Rachel, “Hi Aunt Rachel.”

“I can’t believe how big you’ve gotten,” Rachel said pulling Riley into a hug. It had been a while, the last time she had seen the familiar red-head was at her parents’ tenth anniversary when they had all gone to Philly to celebrate with her grandparents. “I feel like it’s been ages since I last saw you.”

“This is Lucas, he’s my boyfriend,” Riley said introducing him to a family friend, blushing when she said boyfriend.

“Well hello,” Rachel said looking Lucas up and down. “You better treat her nice, or else I’m sure someone would kick you in the seat of the pants.”

“Yeah there’s a long line,” he said shaking Rachel’s hand. He saw Riley gesturing towards Eric as Lucas distracted Rachel.

“Why don’t you two go and dance,” Eric said pushing them towards the dance floor, Riley jabbed him in the ribs before they were on the dance floor.

As they danced Riley listened as best as she could watching the two adults as they talked to one another.

“Don’t worry too much about it,” Lucas said to her.

“I worry, it happens.”

The two of them turn the minute Eric starts talking and listen in as closely as they can while looking at each other. Riley gets lost in his green eyes, and almost kisses him before remembering what they were doing.

“So Rachel,” Eric said looking at the woman he’s been in love with since they met in college. He let his best friend have the girl and decided on just being her friend because she wouldn’t want the goofy guy. “How has you’re life been?”

“Eric we saw each other last month,” Rachel said making him smile.

“I know but a lot can happen in a month,” he said looking at the way her hair had gotten longer over the years, she had cut it of course but it wasn’t as short as it was in college. It smelled of coconut shampoo and citrus, she smelled like a tropical island and he wouldn’t mind being stuck there with her.

“The only thing that’s change is that I have to move, my job is fun but I think I just want to settle down and I would really like to have something easier to do.”

“Well you could come live with me while you’re looking for what you want to do,” he said but all of a sudden felt like he had done something wrong, Riley had been right he needed to stop beating around the bush and actually ask her out. They’ve been friends for nearly twenty years, and both of them hadn’t found anyone worth being with.

“That’s nice and all but…”

“Rachel I love you,” he said interrupting her. “And not in the best friends kind of way, but in the I’m in love with you and would like to spend my life with you kind of way, and if you don’t feel that way please tell me. I’ve been holding on to these feelings since college, but I decided that we should just be friends because I didn’t want to lose you.”

She stood there stunned at what he was saying, “Is that how you really feel?” was all she could ask.

“Since college, I mean I love how you smile, and how you look for what you want to do but get excited when you start a new project. There’s also the way you love animals, or how you light up when you’re talking about what you love.”

“Since college, how did I not know?” she said looking at the teenagers dancing around. “I mean we’ve been so close for so long.”

“If you don’t want to it would be okay,” he said looking towards the far end of the gym.

“Would it be okay if we… um… just dated first and see where it goes?”

He smiled at her and nodded, “I promise I won’t be too weird.”

“Don’t change yourself Eric, I do like you the way you are.”

Riley was smiling at Lucas when he pulled her towards the other end of the gym where the drinks table was, Josh was pouring something into a cup looking over at the pair of them as the smiled at one another.

“Geez, you two are always so happy about something,” Josh said as he handed them both a cup of punch. “What is it this time?”

“Uncle Eric just asked Rachel out,” Riley said beaming at Josh. “And she said yes.”

“About damn time,” Josh said smiling at her. “He’s been in love with her since I could remember.”

The rest of the night the couples all danced, and laughed as they bounced around the gym in their outfits. Lucas pulled Riley out the door to the school an hour before the dance was supposed to end and took her towards her house, instead of going to her apartment, he took her to the roof of the building.

“I want some alone time with you, the stars, and the skyscrapers,” he said once they reached the roof.

“They’re better than twinkle lights,” she said smiling. “Oh and there’s also this,” she said as she pulled his face down towards hers and kissed him. “I owed you that one.”

Lucas smiled before descending on her lips again, Riley threw her arms around his shoulders and smiled into the kiss before deepening it. They still hadn’t had their movie theater make out session, but this moment was more magical than any fairy tale she could have imagined.


	24. Girl Meets The Return of Family Game Night feat. Twister

There’s something that has always bothered Riley, something she couldn’t really understand, and that was the fact that her father never let her play twister. She had to look it up after a while and it looked like a fun game but for some reason her father was adamant on her never playing the game.

She was sitting my Maya’s room, while Maya changed because it was family game night, and all of the Hunter family was coming over. But since they didn’t have a game that they could all play Riley suggested that they put different games in each room and people could float around to whichever game they wanted to play. Lucas, Zay, Farkle, Smackle, and Cassie were all coming over along with her uncles, and Rachel. So the house was going to be packed with people.

“Uncle Shawn,” Riley called out when she reached the living room. Deciding to leave Maya up to whatever she was up to.

“Yeah Riley,” Shawn said turning around and looking at her. “What do you need kiddo?”

“Why won’t my dad let me play twister?” she asked him point blank.

“What do you mean?”

“Well one time we were playing the couple’s game,” she started remembering that day. “It was New Years, and my dad said that we weren’t allowed to play Twister and well I wanted to know why.”

“This is something I think you should ask them,” he said.

“I have, and of course they don’t say a word.”

“Well okay, let’s just say that the reason your dad doesn’t want you to play has something to do with him being afraid of the outcome of the game.”

“Fine don’t tell me,” she said dejected at how he was deflecting the question.

“Oh thank god,” he said looking to the sky. “Sorry Riley but I don’t want to answer a question that your parents should have answered a long time ago considering how you’re sixteen.”

“Let’s go,” Maya said walking out wearing ripped jeans and her favorite tank, which Riley knew Josh liked the most out of all of her clothes.

The four of them walked over to Riley’s place, Riley still thinking about the twister dilemma, she still couldn’t figure it out. When they reached her house it was full of people, Ava, Auggie and Doy were running around the living room the adults were all talking to one another, hugging like they hadn’t seen each other in years when they had seen one another two days prior. One game already set up in the living room, another on the dining room table. Riley took one of the games to her room, _The Friends Game_ , which she didn’t really want to play.

Then she saw it, right underneath, Twister looked back at her and she slid it under the game she had originally picked up and walked out of the living room and towards her room. One by one her friends filed into her room all talking to one another.

“What are we going to play?” Zay asked looking over at Cassie.

“I don’t know, I saw the couple’s game outside on the dining room table,” Cassie said looking at him like he was everything she ever wanted. “It might be a good way to see how well we’ve gotten to know each other.”

Riley couldn’t help but think how cute they looked. They still hadn’t made their relationship official but they were happy just going on dates and talking for hours. Zay had told Riley that he wanted to introduce Cassie to his parents, mainly because he couldn’t stop talking about her.

“If it’s alright I would like to go around and study everyone as they play their perspective games before I make a decision,” Smackle said to Farkle.

“That’s alright with me,” Farkle said smiling at her.

Josh hadn’t shown up yet so Riley, Lucas, and Maya were left to set up the game in Riley’s bedroom, but when Maya picked up the game she saw the game underneath and smiled.

“Riley Matthews,” Maya said looking up at her. “Are you defying your father?”

“I just wanted to see what it was about,” Riley said trying not to sound too guilty for taking the game without asking.

“Well I think you and Ranger Rick over here should play,” Maya said as Lucas walked over to see what was happening.

“Play what?” he asked looking between the two girls.

“This,” Maya said holding up the game. “Everyone else is off to play something, the parents are all talking and Josh isn’t here yet… so you two have to play. I’ll spin the board.”

“Um… do you want to?” Riley asked Lucas not knowing what to do.

“I’ll play,” he said smiling at her. “Why not it’s not a long game from the looks of it so while everyone decides and Josh gets here I guess we can play twister to kill some time.”

“Alright,” Maya said pulling off the top of the box and putting it on the bay window. “Here make yourselves useful and lay this out on the floor.”

Lucas took the plastic part of the game and shook it out before laying it on the floor. All Riley saw were the spots wondering what the game was about.

“So how does this go?” Riley said looking to her best friend.

Maya cleared her throat and looked up, “Basically I call out where you have to put your arms and feet, and first one to fall loses.”

“That’s sounds easy,” Riley said wondering why her father was so against the game. “Let’s start.”

“Alrighty,” Maya said spinning the board. “Right foot yellow.”

Riley moved her foot onto the yellow circle, she was facing Lucas who just smiled at her. “You’re going down Friar,” she said to intimidate him.

“Bring it on Matthews,” he said returning her challenge.

Maya spun the board again. “Left hand green.”

Riley bent down and put her hand on the green circle in front of her, as Lucas put his hand on the one next to it.

“Right hand green,” Maya said. “Geez this is stupid.” She mumbled before noticing the couple in front of her as Riley put her hand on the green circle behind her and Lucas his hand in the one behind Riley’s left hand. “Oh this just got interesting,” Maya said as she looked at the two in their compromising position.

Riley could feel her heart trying to jump out of her chest with the closeness of Lucas in front of her, all she could smell was cedar and a light hint of sage.

Maya spun the board and laughed. “Left foot red.”

Riley looked at Maya in distress because that would mean moving around to the point where she would be so close to Lucas, and her heart was already pounding in her chest from the closeness. Lucas easily moved his foot while Riley tried her best not to fall as she touched the red circle just behind Lucas’ foot. He was almost on top of her, and she heard his breath hitch from the closeness. That’s when she realized why her father always said no to play the game when it came to the two of them.

“I feel like I should leave you two like that,” Maya said but in Riley’s head she sounded a million miles away with Lucas so close to her.

Suddenly her door burst open and Lucas fell forward as her father screamed.

“No,” he yelled. “Topanga,” he yelled out.

Lucas was on top of her, both of them not moving as Maya laughed in the background.

“Get off her you heathen,” her father said as Lucas scrambled off of Riley and her father hauled her towards the living room. “Topanga you wouldn’t believe what Riley was doing, she took the twister game and was playing with… with… with HIM.”

Her mother started laughing, “Geez Cory, Twister is not a euphemism for sex,” her mother said making Riley turn bright red. When she looked over she saw Lucas’ ears turning red from embarrassment.

“It’s my fault,” Maya said. “I took the game.”

“Maya don’t lie,” Riley said looking over at her best friend. “I wanted to know why you wouldn’t let us play so I took it.”

“That’s it you’re grounded,” her father said and the room just looked at him stunned.

“Seriously Cory,” Eric said walking over to his brother. “You’re over reacting.”

“Yeah Cory,” Rachel chimed in. “It’s just a game.”

Shawn was doubled over laughing in the corner trying to get a hold of himself, while everyone was trying to not laugh at what was happening, but soon the room was filled with laughter. As much as Riley wanted to laugh her heart was still pounding in her chest, Lucas had fallen on her and he lost but it felt more like Riley won something bigger than a stupid game.

The closeness made her blush and want to cover her face before anyone noticed, the smell of Lucas was now permanently burned into her mind as well as the weight of his body on top of hers. Even though her mother had said it hadn’t involved sex, for some reason it felt intimate enough. Once everyone stopped laughing and they all got back to their games Lucas took Riley’s hand and led her towards the table, they sat there watching everyone as they stole glances at one another. Riley wasn’t ready to move forward with that part of their relationship, she knew that much, but she wouldn’t mind playing twister again if it meant being that close to Lucas again.


	25. Girl Meets Hospital

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Although rare, there are injuries that could incapacitate a baseball player.

This chapter also comes with a warning, this chapter contains material that could be sensitive to some readers, it concerns cutting, bullying, as well as thoughts of suicide.

 

The beginning of the baseball season had come, and Lucas was up at bat, Riley was cheering with the cheerleaders, Zay was on third base, Farkle was calculating the probability of Lucas getting a home run while Smackle asked questions about the game. Maya ignored them all paying more attention to Josh who was watching the game while she told him something in his ear.

The pitcher threw the ball at his face with full force, and before Lucas could duck the ball hit him and knocked him out cold. Riley ran up to him to check on him but he was unconscious, but she kept calling his name while squeezing his hand. She watched as the paramedic took him away, rushing to go with him on the ambulance. Their friends not far behind as Josh drove them all to the hospital while Zay called Lucas’ parents telling them what had happened.

Riley cried in the waiting room, because the doctors said only family at the moment, everyone else couldn’t figure out what happened. Except Zay said to the coach that the pitcher had done it on purpose, the ball had clocked in at over eighty miles per hour straight to Lucas’ face. They ran test on Lucas all afternoon, as his parents showed up, as Riley’s parents came with food for everyone, as Zay’s mom sat next to them telling them everything will be alright. Riley just kept on crying.

\----------------------------------------------------

When Lucas woke up he was in his bed at home, but something felt different, his memories didn’t match what he saw. There was no picture of Riley and him at Coney Island from the summer before, it usually sat on his nightstand, there was nothing from his time at John Quincy, his trophies were labeled for a different school. There were no traces of his regular life and it seemed like he had been put in a different world. Farkle would tell him that alternate universes didn’t exist and that he should go back to sleep. When he reached for his phone, the model was different but the password was the same, Riley’s birthday, when he unlocked it all of the pictures were different. He was in a football uniform and not a baseball one, he was wearing a uniform for Thomas Jefferson High, Abigail Adams’ rival school.

“What’s happening?” he wondered pulling up his texts and seeing a multitude of girls asking for dates, but no messages from his friends.

“Lucas are you awake?” his father called. “I know you took a hit yesterday at the game but you can’t stay in bed all day.”

His door opened and his father walked in, for some reason he looked different, normally his father would have a hard edge to his voice from when he had been expelled, Riley had softened him a bit and they had gotten into a normal relationship. But the man in front of him looked like a completely different person.

“Ah you’re awake,” he said before sitting at the edge of the bed. “You should get ready for school.”

Lucas only nodded, he didn’t know what to say, something felt off and he couldn’t place his finger on the problem. It was Friday, or at least that’s what his phone said, which means they had a game the night before. He got up and went through the motions of getting ready, he said good morning to his mother only to see a middle schooler with her. He had a sister, and he didn’t know it, the girl had the same eyes as his but where his hair was more mixed brown and blonde, this girl’s hair was pure blonde.

“What’s up bro?” she said looking at him like he was staring too long.

Instead of saying anything he grabbed a banana to make his mother think like he was trying, grabbed his backpack and rushed out the door. His school ID was for Thomas Jefferson, but he went to the one place he had always went to in the morning to grab a muffin, but Topanga’s wasn’t there. Instead he was faced with a fast food restaurant that wasn’t open yet, so he walked on toward Abigail Adams hoping to find Riley, or Maya, or Farkle, hell Smackle would do but as he stood there watching the students all he saw were unfamiliar faces.

 

He had almost missed her, he wouldn’t have noticed if not for the fact that her hair still looked the same, and her face was a beautiful as ever, but she was alone, no Maya, no Farkle, she was dressed in black and had more make-up on than he had ever seen. Someone knocked into her and she lashed out at the person, a boy stood not too far from her, he looked just like her but taller, his head as curly as Mr. Matthews but lighter than Auggie’s. He was yelling at her for being rude but Riley only pushed him away and walked into the school.

He walked off towards where Thomas Jefferson was completely shocked, not knowing what he should do. Once inside, people joked with him as he went to his classes, he was popular at this school because he was the star quarterback and team captain. He was asked out by several girls but turned them all down and just kept going through the motions of his day. His teammates invited him to a party on Saturday, and he said yes only to get them to shut up. Everyone just thought he was in one of his moods, but they still pestered him throughout the day.

When school was over he was glad, he couldn’t stand the way everyone had treated him like he was everything in the world. He missed Zay cracking jokes, Smackle flirting with him only to make Farkle jealous, Maya pushing his buttons, and most of all he missed his sunshine, he missed Riley, his Riley and not the cussing dark girl he had seen. He had checked his phone several times, but Zay’s number wasn’t there, and when he had called Zay’s New York number a woman answered, and Zay’s Texas number was disconnected.

Wandering around he found himself in the library where he had told Riley that he wanted to be a veterinarian. He sat there hoping that the whole day was some elaborate scheme but it hadn’t been and now he was in a life he didn’t know anything about. He looked around the room and noticed that in a far off corner was a familiar orange turtleneck and a head of blonde hair.

“Farkle,” he said out loud, the librarian shushed him while Farkle looked at him like he had grown a third head. Lucas walked over as fast as he could sitting next to the genius, who was wearing an Einstein Academy uniform instead of his now signature boy band look.

“Do I know you?” Farkle asked looking at Lucas who was now sitting so close.

“Lucas Friar,” he said hoping to have some form of normalcy instead the genius started to pack up.

“You’re that football player aren’t you,” he said as he stowed away the last of his things. “We definitely don’t know one another.”

Lucas was trying to figure out how to gain his best friend’s attention when he just started talking without thinking. “Have you ever woken up and thought that everything was wrong, like nothing makes sense?”

“No,” he said as he tried to get up but Lucas pulled him back down.

“Listen to me for a minute please,” Lucas said his eyes pleading with him. “I woke up this morning and everything was wrong, you, Maya, Zay, Smackle, Cassie, and my Riley weren’t in my life, I don’t know what to do.”

“Lucas, I don’t know you,” he said looking at him confused.

“I just want to know what happened, all I remember was being at a baseball game, Riley was cheering me on, and you were calculating the probabilities of a homerun with Smackle… I got hit in the face with a baseball and the next thing I knew I was in the wrong place, even though it’s the same place. Everything I knew never existed.”

Farkle looked at him like he had grown a third head before shaking his head and standing up. “Come on lets go to my house to talk, the librarian is giving us a dirty look.”

Lucas followed feeling like his world was crashing down around him, when they reached Farkle’s almost everything was the same, except Maya’s bedroom wasn’t there.

“The train will be here in a minute,” Lucas said and Farkle looked at him.

“How do you know that?”

“I used to hang out here, with you and the girls, Zay would be playing that zombie game with Riley, with you and Smackle would do some weird experiment over there, I would play golf, while Maya drew something.”

“You really aren’t from here,” Farkle said looking around. “No one has ever been in this room, hell no one really remembers Maya, she moved away in the seventh grade.”

“They were your wives then,” Lucas sighed as he dropped down onto the couch. The train zoomed by only stopping for a moment to as the conductor asked Farkle a question before moving on. “Where is my normal life?”

“I don’t know,’ Farkle said as he sat down across from him. “I do know that a lot of things changed in seventh grade.”

“Can you tell me what happened?”

“Well, Riley started acting more and more like Maya in the seventh grade, then Maya and her mother moved to Arkansas to be closer to their family. Her mother gave up on acting because she realized it was causing her to miss her daughter growing up.”

“So she didn’t remarry?”

“Who Maya’s mom?”

“Yeah, where I’m from she married Shawn Hunter, and he adopted Maya.”

“No, actually she was a widow, her husband had died when Maya was little, and she decided that she needed to try and live her dream because life was too short. Except in the end it was causing Maya to act out because she never grieved for her father.”

“What about Riley? She was with this guy earlier, but he looked like her so I’m guess that either Auggie was born first or something.”

“No, that’s her brother Elliot, he’s two years older than her, he’s a senior at Abigail Adams, he’s their star everything, top student, athlete, debate club, student body president. Riley’s the middle child but her brothers kind of over shadowed her over the years, so she became like Maya and when Maya left she became worse. We all stopped being friends around the same time and I transferred to Einstein Academy. I haven’t talked to them since.”

Lucas couldn’t believe it, “This is too much for me.”

“I know, it’s weird, there’s no scientific explanation for any of this, but if what you say is true then there’s a world out there where Riley is a different person.”

“We all are,” he said frowning. “I have a sister that I don’t know, and the kids at school worship me, but for some reason I feel like some of them are on edge around me.”

“Well you’re kind of a bully,” Farkle said. “I know some kids who go to school with you and well they’re all afraid of you.”

“But that’s not me? I guess without Riley I’m not the best person am I?”

“Can you tell me? You know about your life?”

Lucas nodded and slowly told him about his life, the real life he lead where he went to the same school as all of them. Riley falling on his lap the first day of seventh grade, Farkle’s transformation in eighth grade, Maya’s constant name calling, even how Zay came to New York, and how Smackle joined them in high school. “You’re dating her you know, Smackle.”

“But we wouldn’t match, the probability of us being together is…”

“Farkle stop and think, you and Smackle were made for each other, you always said that like forces repel but the two of you aren’t alike at all, you just need to open your eyes to that.”

They talked for a while longer, Lucas sent a message to his mother that he was going to stay with a friend. He wanted a chance to figure it all out and Farkle was the best person to help him. The two of them looked over websites, social media, anything to try and jog his memory, but nothing worked. Lucas was stuck there and he didn’t know how to get back to where his life was as close to perfect as he could have asked for.

“Maybe you need to fix somethings for Lucas here?” Farkle suggested later that night.

“What like he needs to stop being a complete douche, and date Riley?”

“Riley might be the one thing that would bring this all together, maybe you’re here to fix what went wrong. Which means you need to learn as much as you can about the part of you that lives here.”

“But how?”

“Well what did you learn from going to school?”

“Everyone liked me, except the people who weren’t popular, all the girls asked me out, but according to my teammates I don’t like any of them so it gave me this rep as a bad boy who thinks no one is good enough for him.”

“Okay, so why wouldn’t the most popular guy in school date just anyone? Look through your phone, not the messages but the pictures. There’s something there.”

Lucas pulled out his phone and started going through the pictures like Farkle said, there were pictures with his teammates, and some girls, pictures from parties, and a folder labeled _Her_ he opened it and saw nothing but pictures of Riley, all dating back to that day on the subway when she fell on his lap, but from the looks of the photos she had never turned around and saw him. He had ended up at a different school instead of John Quincy, but there were still pictures and pictures of Riley. From parties, to games where their schools played against one another, she was there but she didn’t look the same. As the pictures went on she wore darker clothes, and people weren’t around her. Even in this world Riley was his everything even if she didn’t know it.

“Wow, talk about stalker,” Farkle said. “I guess the best thing to do is show up at that party tomorrow, because most likely she’s going to be there.”

“She really is the center of my whole word,” he said, thinking of how she made him a better person, but without Maya, or Farkle, or even him Riley wasn’t the same person.

The two of them went to sleep soon after, and when Lucas woke up the next day and was still in Farkle’s room he knew that nothing had changed. He wasn’t home, he wasn’t in his New York, but if Farkle was right, Riley was the answer to everything. The two of them worked on a plan for him to get Riley, but they knew it was going to be hard. When they finished Lucas went home and changed his clothes for the party, saying a quick goodbye to his family as he rushed out the door.

\----------------------------------------------------------

Riley sat in the waiting room, her heart pounding in her chest as everyone she knew came in and out, the doctor had told him that the ball had reached nearly 100 mile per hour when it hit Lucas, and at that rate injury was high, especially since it hit him when he wasn’t looking. They were checking for injury to see if he had a concussion, a clot in his head or even if it had blown his pupil. For all this to happen he needed to be sedated and most likely wouldn’t be awake until the next day. His parents stayed nearby, but Riley wouldn’t move from where they had wheeled him in. Baseball wasn’t supposed to be as rough as any other sport but there were still sever injuries and it frightened her.

She kept replaying the moment in her mind, all the other cheerleaders were pumping up the crowd but she had turned around the moment he went up to bat. She was cheering him on because she wanted him to know she was there, but the pitcher had thrown a fastball when Lucas had looked down, his head only turned to meet the ball face to face. Watching him fall to the ground, as Farkle and Zay ran towards him to check if he was alright had hurt as much as if the ball had hit her. She couldn’t move, as the referees walked up, as his family walked towards them. Everything had moved so slowly, but then she felt her heart beating and her feet moving forward, running towards him. Calling his name and getting no answer, she got on the ambulance on instinct. Watching them hook him up onto the machines, checking his eye, his head, she squeezed his hand to let him know she was there.

Even with everyone telling her it was going to be alright hours later, she couldn’t get the image of Lucas unconscious on the gurney. Her cheerleading uniform still on her, she didn’t want to move afraid that if she did everything that could go wrong would. In that moment her only concern was the boy on the subway who had changed her life in so many ways, and she never got the chance to tell him how much she loved him.

\----------------------------------------------------------

The party was in full swing when he got there, all the football players greeted him with pats on the shoulder but he only had one goal, Riley. It took him a while to find her, she was in a corner of the room sipping on something inside of a red solo cup ignoring the rest of the room. Her brother was on the other side of the room talking with some girl, so Lucas took a chance and walked over to Riley.

“Hey,” he said but she rolled her eyes and turned the other way. This Riley didn’t do the Hi, Hey, Hi, that his Riley did. “Can we talk?” he asked as loud as he could without shouting.

“Why the hell would I talk to you?” she said before walking out the backdoor.

“Riley we need to talk,” he said trying to catch up to her through the crowd of people. “Please.”

He knew that the Lucas of this world liked Riley, but he didn’t say anything to her, he was content with watching her from afar. He grabbed her arm and pulled her out the side gate towards the street.

“Let go of me,” she said pulling her arm trying to get away.

“We need to talk,” he said as they reached a park and he sat her down on the swings. “This is important.”

“Right, like the big bad popular football player had anything to say that would explain him dragging a girl out of a party and to an isolated park.”

“I love you,” he said trying to get her attention. He felt bad for the Lucas from this world because he blurted out this secret crush without thinking. He hoped that the memories would be there when the guy came back, but he wanted his Riley, and he knew he loved her more than anything even if he didn’t tell her, even though he should have.

Riley laughed at him and then her face turned serious. “I don’t play games big boy, now leave me the hell alone.”

“Riley please,” he said. “What do I have to do to get you to understand that I telling the truth?”

She ignored him and kept walking away. The only thing he could hope at that moment was that Riley was still the same girl who left her bay window unlocked. He rushed towards her place, the apartment was still the same, but there were no flowers on the fire escape, no sign of the old Riley. There was a light on and she sat there looking out, so he knew he was in the right place, so he climbed the ladder and walked up to her floor trying not to make too much noise. Her window was open letting the spring air into her room but when he saw inside it wasn’t the same.

The room which had been bright and airy, with blue and purple everywhere, was black and red, from where he was all he saw was the small things that had meant that somewhere in there was the old Riley. His Riley. A purple cat in the corner, Berry the Bear Bear on the chair, and Riley’s desk in the corner near the door. The brunette sitting there, it took him a moment to realize that she had pulled her sleeve up, her arm covered in cut after cut. She had pulled out a blade and was about to cut herself again when he burst through the window and took it away from her.

“Stop,” he said as he threw it across the room. “Don’t do it.”

“What the hell are you doing here?” she screamed and he wondered if anyone would hear her. “Get the fuck out.”

“No,” he said pulling her close. “You can’t do this to yourself… Riley you can’t hurt yourself.”

“No one will care,” she said yelling at him as she pulled away and walked towards where the blade landed. He grabbed her again and pulled her close. “Stop it,” she yelled. “You don’t even know me.”

“I know you like cuddle bunnies, but you don’t tell anyone anymore because they would make fun of you. I know Berry the Bear Bear is your favorite childhood toy because your parents gave it to you before your brother Auggie was born, when you were home sick. I know Maya is your best friend in the world, and I don’t understand why she’s not here to stop this,” Riley started crying in his arms as he spoke. “You love purple cats, and you think you don’t have a talent while everyone else is good at something, even though I know you love to write about everything.”

“What are you a stalker,” she said as she sniffled, her body shaking in his arms.

“No… Well I don’t think so, but I do know that for some reason I can’t seem to date anyone else, and I’m a total jerk to everyone, but your face is all I want to see in the morning.”

“Oh please, you’re just saying that because my brother is your rival,” she said but he knew her voice wasn’t as cut throat as before. “No one cares about me.”

“Are you sure?”

“My parents praise my brothers but don’t say anything nice to me, they’ll make sarcastic remarks like how my brother is the best student but I’m good at sleeping. I have a perfect GPA, but my little brother is a prodigy. No one cares about Riley Matthews, I shouldn’t exist, hell my parents liked Maya better than me when she was still in New York, they praised her for being an Amazon Warrior but I was just the klutzy girl who tripped all over school.”

“That’s not who you are to me,” he said as he took her towards the bay window. “To me you’re a bright spot in my day, you are serious but you want the best for everyone, when you smile it’s like the sun is shining and my heart skips a beat.”

“Lucas you don’t know me,” she said but it was almost a whisper.

“I could prove to you that your life is worth something,” he said before he kissed her on the forehead. “People care, you just have to let go of the sadness and let them into your heart.”

They didn’t talk for a while, they just sat there in each other’s arms, for some reason it felt as if she was using him as an anchor, to keep her grounded to something. This Riley was falling apart, and he couldn’t understand why no one saw it.

At around midnight he realized that she had fallen asleep in his arms, so he scooped her up and tucked her into her bed. He turned to leave when he realized that she had grabbed his arm.

“Don’t leave,” she said in a quiet voice. Normally her father kicked him out around nine, but neither one of her parents came in to check on her at all.

“Where’s everyone?” he asked curious to know what was different about this version of the Matthews.

“Auggie’s probably sleeping, my parents are at some party they left a babysitter here for Auggie, I came in and just went straight to my room, and Elliot of course was at the party.”

“Do you parents check in with you before bed?”

She shook her head, “Not since Maya left,” she said her voice tired.

“What do they do?” he asked curious to see if they were the same people he knew, because for some reason something wasn’t right if they let her get to the point where she was cutting herself.

“My mom’s a lawyer, she’s the head of the firm that’s number one on Wall Street, my dad is a banker, and he works for one of the big ones, although I usually forget which one.”

That’s how he knew that everything was different, Mr. Matthews wasn’t their teacher, and Mrs. Matthews wasn’t defending the little guy. The café didn’t exist, and Riley had a brother who was the best at everything to the point where he overshadowed his sister. Maybe he needed to fix both himself and Riley before it was too late.

They talked about silly things for hours after that, and Lucas knew she was fighting to stay awake. Riley still loved cuddle bunnies, and unicorns, but her life had taken a dramatic turn when she started high school. After being bullied in middle school she had closed herself off, but the bullies had followed only now they had crushes on her brother. She didn’t make any friends because all of the girls all wanted to get close to Elliot, forgetting that she was there. When she didn’t do what they said they would push her into the bathroom stall and throw water on her until she was soaked through. They would spread rumors about her throughout the school, about how easy she was but they also said that because of that she had an STD that changed depending on the week or month.

They fell asleep next to each other after talking for what seemed like hours. When they woke up hours later, he could tell that Riley felt shy about him being there, he knew that it had something to do with what he had seen. He needed to know the why’s of what was happening in this world, and he needed to do it fast because he didn’t know how long he had here.

“Can I ask you something,” he said sitting up on her bed. “Why do you cut yourself? I know you have bullies and the school worships your brother, but why would you do that?”

“Somedays, I think it’s because,” she hesitates looking down at her hands, she pulls down the sleeves of her black sweater. “It’s because I keep trying to prepare myself for eventually getting to the point where I want to die.”

Her voice was barely a whisper but he had heard her loud and clear and it hurt him to hear her say those words. This was Riley, regardless of whether or not this was his life, she was meant for so much more than what she doing in that moment. Instead of saying something, he pulled her into a hug and held her there for what seemed like forever. He felt as her body started shaking, as she started crying in his arms. This is something she was missing and he hoped that they would be able to move forward together. He hoped that the version of him in this world would protect her at all cost.


	26. Girl Meets I Love You

Lucas left Riley's house an hour after she had stopped crying, he went home and decided to write something for his other half, a letter saying sorry for what he was about to do to his life. He knew that in order to fix Riley, and himself in this world they would both have to transfer to a different school. One that was far from where they both went, even if it meant commuting on a daily basis so that she could heal away from the bullies, and the people who had hurt her.

He walked downstairs texting Riley saying that they had to meet, his sister was in the living room watching television. He realized that he didn’t even know the girl’s name and that bothered him and he didn’t want to know, mainly because he was afraid that if he changed too much of this world his other self would be troubled by all of the changes.

Leaving his house he walked off towards the nearby park looking for Riley, as he walked around. She was going to meet him soon but when he looked at his watch he realized that she was late, which was something that normally didn’t happen with his Riley. He walked towards Riley’s house and up the ladder to the bay window only to see her fighting with her parents as they tore up her room.

“What are you doing?” she screamed at them.

“We heard that you we on drugs,” her father said. “So we’re going to go through everything until we find them.”

“I’m not on drugs, I’m not on anything, why are you doing this to me?” she yelled back at him.

Lucas noticed how her older brother was standing in the corner of the room, for some reason the guy irked him. He kept his eyes on the storm brewing inside the bedroom, as Riley tried to push her parents out the door.

“Here they are dad,” Elliot said walking up with a bag Lucas had seen him pull out from his back pocket.

Her mother looked at her disappointed. “Riley why were you lying?”

“I wasn’t,” Riley screamed as she looked at her brother in disbelief. “Those aren’t mine.”

“Then why were they in your room?” her father asked her.

“They weren’t.”

“What if Auggie had found them, do you have any idea what would have happened?” her mother said.

Lucas had had enough of what was happening and pulled the bay window open climbing into the room and pulling Riley behind him.

“What the hell are you doing her Friar?” Elliot spat out looking Lucas in the face. He hadn’t noticed before because he had only seen the older boy from afar but he knew that there was something wrong with him.

“I’m here because you’re accusing Riley of something she doesn’t do, or had any knowledge of because her asshole brother wants to cover his own ass,” Lucas said his Texas side on the surface almost willing Elliot to push him. Lucas didn’t need drugs to have an edge, he already lived with anger simmering on the inside.

Elliot got in front of Lucas standing within an inch of his face, “You don’t know shit,” he spat out.

“I know enough,” he said in regards to how Riley is treated. “If you believe a rumor and drugs that came from nowhere, then you don’t deserve to have her as a sister,” he turned to her parents. “Or a daughter.”

Taking Riley’s hand he pulled her away from her family and through her bedroom towards the front door. Auggie was standing in the hallway smiling at Riley as they walked passed him, from that alone Lucas knew that Auggie knew what was happening, but was too young to figure out the implications of what Riley was doing to herself, and what his brother was doing to himself.

“Lucas where are we going?” Riley asked as they walked out the door. Instead of taking her downstairs he took her to the roof where not too long ago, he and his Riley had shared a moment after the dance. When he stopped, he tried to reign in his anger against her family, they weren’t these kinds of people, they were better than that but something happened along the way that changed them and he hated it. Then he realized what it was, the brother Elliot wasn’t in his world and he was the one person in Riley’s life who had shaped her everything.

“Sorry,” he said once he calmed down. “You know, about how sucky your family is, I think the only one in there that really sees you is Auggie.”

“What do you mean?” she asked him curious about what he was implying.

“When we were walking out he was the only one on your side, I think he knows that something is happening, but he’s too young to understand. He really loves you though.”

“Why are we up here?” she asked after processing his words, he knew she was holding back but she was still the strong girl he knew.

“It’s not kidnapping if you’re still home,” he said knowing that the Matthews would try and get him in trouble in this world. Especially since he broke into their house and pulled their daughter away after getting into a heated argument with Riley’s brother.

“I don’t think they know what hit them,” she said smiling at Lucas, a real smile for the first time since they met. The same smile that lights her up and makes her his Riley.

They sat at the edge of the roof watching the sky change color, Lucas holding her hand hoping that she wasn’t too mad at what had happened. “I was wondering if you ever thought about changing schools?” he said to break the silence.

“I originally applied for a different school, it was in one of the outer boroughs but my parents were against it, they kept saying I was too young to go to a school so far away, even if it was a subway ride away.”

“Maybe it’s time for you to transfer,” he said smiling at her. “You and me both, a new beginning, even if it’s in the same city we could find ourselves away from the drama, from everyone’s criticism, we could reinvent ourselves.”

“You don’t like playing football?”

“Not particularly, I’m more of a baseball man,” he said smiling at her. “And basketball, like the Knicks,” he watched her face light up, he knew she loved the team no matter what, even if he wasn’t entirely sure but if it made her happy he would learn to like them too. “My grades are good, but I know transferring would be a problem because I wouldn’t know where to start.”

They talked about it for a while when he got a call from Farkle, “Hey so the Matthews called me asking if I’ve seen Riley,” Farkle said from the other side. “I haven’t really talked to her since middle school but I was worried.”

“Don’t worry she’s with me,” Lucas answered, when a thought came to him. “Hey Farkle do you know if Einstein takes in students who have good grades and excel at sports?”

Riley looked up at him when he mentioned Farkle, she wondered what had happened to him, like Maya he had also disappeared from her life, leaving her alone to deal with all of the changes. She watched Lucas in awe as the two of them talked, she couldn’t figure out how it was that they knew each other.

“Farkle’s coming over,” Lucas said after he hung up the phone surprising her. “You’re parents are looking for you… but they don’t know any of your friends.”

“I don’t really have friends unless you count that cat that lives in the neighborhood. I feed him sometimes. Mostly everyone at school thinks I’m a bitch, and a slut, but I’m just quiet unless someone harasses me and then I lash out. They bullying hasn’t been as bad as before because I started fighting back.”

Lucas pulled her close and held her, he didn’t want her to go through anything like that anymore and he knew that transferring is the best thing he could do for her. Farkle and Smackle would take care of her and make her their friend.

It took Farkle twenty minutes to get to them, but he snuck up using the fire escape so that the Matthews wouldn’t see him. When Lucas saw the way Farkle looked at Riley he knew that guilt played a large role in what had happened between them.

“Hi Riles,” Farkle said sitting in front of them.

It took Riley a minute before she spoke up, “Hi,” was all she said and Lucas knew that she was trying to keep her heart from getting hurt again.

“I talked to the dean at the school and he said under special circumstances would he think of inviting the both of you into the school,” Farkle said looking at the two of them. “Lucas, you would have a sports scholarship but he wants you to work with the athletics department, so we could win something.”

“That’s reasonable,” Lucas said looking over at Riley. “What about…”

“Ah well Riley’s grades are good, and he likes her experiments from the last city wide science fair, he actually wanted to offer her a place a long time ago, but she never responded.”

“What?” Riley said looking up at Farkle for the first time. “What are you talking about I never go an invitation to go to Einstein.”

Farkle looked over at Lucas, they both knew that something had happened to that invitation, but Lucas knew better, he knew that someone had happened. Elliot.

“I’ll tell him you’re interested then,” Farkle said. “He thinks that you have a great mind and your talents are wasted at Abigail Adams, so he’ll fund a scholarship for you if it means you would go to Einstein.”

“What do you think Riley?” Lucas said knowing that getting her permission was key to this.

“I can’t live at home if I go to Einstein,” she said in a low voice, and Lucas knew the implications of what she was saying. Her brother would do anything to drag her down which would jeopardize her chances at a good future.

“We can talk to the dean, we have dorms now, my dad funded them so maybe there’s a place for you there. Smackle lives there so maybe you can be roommates,” Farkle hesitated for a moment before handing them both envelopes, “You need your parents’ permission, but everything you need for to enroll is in there.”

“Thanks Farkle,” she said and Lucas knew that he had started to slowly mend their relationship.

“I’ll go down there with you if you need me to,” he said looking at the pair.

“I think that would be a good idea especially after what happened,” Lucas said before he explained the situation including Riley’s cutting. Farkle looked shocked to learn how much his good friend’s life had changed over the years, but he promised to be there for her from that moment on.

“We can be friends again,” Riley said. “But it’s going to take a little time, I mean… so much changed in middle school but we can take baby steps to move forward.”

“I’d like that Riley,” Farkle said as they stood up and hugged. Lucas felt something tugging at his heart, almost as if he had repaired something without knowing he had done it. He wondered if it was this world’s version of him telling him thank you, but he felt something else, almost like time was running out.

“I guess we should talk to our parents,” Lucas said looking at Riley. He missed his life, his version of it at least, but most of all he missed the sunshine that was Riley Matthews, and if it took forever he wanted this Riley to have some of that sunshine come back into her life.

Riley took his hand and gave it a quick squeeze before walking through the door, Lucas didn’t let go of her hand once knowing she needed his strength. Farkle followed them downstairs, hesitant to go through the door into her apartment but they had to do this together because Riley needed them to have their strength to do so herself.

When she opened the door Lucas saw her parents pacing, but Riley didn’t say a word as the door hit the wall next to the fireplace. Lucas hadn’t noticed when he rushed them out earlier, but the apartment was more modern chic than the colorful home he knew the Matthews lived in where he was from. They were more money driven in this world.

“Riley where have you been?” her mother asked as she walked over to them. Before the woman would could rip her hand away from Lucas, he pulled her behind him and stood in front of the woman who had believed her liar son over her daughter.

“You young man are going to prison for kidnapping, I’ll make sure of it,” the woman said to him which only made him smirk, Riley gasped behind him but he squeezed her hand.

“You can’t send me to prison for kidnapping, we never left the building,” he said looking her straight in the eye. “You just didn’t look hard enough.”

“You have a lot of explaining to do young lady,” Riley’s father said standing next to his wife.

Lucas felt Riley grip his hand but noticed when she stood tall and walked in front of her parents. She wanted them to see her and he knew it, she wanted them to know the truth of it all.

“Okay,” she said standing firm next to Lucas. “I’ll explain everything… ELLIOT,” she yelled out for her brother. Auggie rushed into the living room and sat at the bay window as Elliot walked into the room.

“Oh good the delinquent brought you back,” Elliot said with false bravado as he walked towards her, but once again Lucas put himself in between the two of them. “Get out of my face Friar.”

“Oh shut up Elliot,” Auggie said from the bay window. “I know what happens here better than anyone and I know you’re as bad as they come.”

Lucas couldn’t help but smile at the smallest Matthews, the kid was smart alright. His family looked at him as if he had grown a third head which only made Lucas smile even more.

“He’s right you know,” Riley said. “Auggie is always watching, we’re his older siblings, we’re supposed to protect him because that’s what siblings do. But you don’t do that do you Elliot?” Riley moved away from Lucas, letting go of his hand to stand face to face with her older brother. “In fact, you were the reason I was getting bullied when I started at Abigail Adams, because you wanted to break up with your girlfriend so you made me do it for you. Or when you wanted to date the head cheerleader, you started the rumor that I was having sex with her boyfriend, or when Missy Bradford got pregnant because you couldn’t put on a condom.”

Her parents stood there stock still while Riley continued to spit out her tirade. “It was you who started the rumor that I slept with every guy I could, because you didn’t want anyone to look at you like the bad guy. It was you who told everyone in school that I slept with the football team before a game so that they would have the luck to make it to the championship. You dragged me to parties because that way if you got caught you could blame it on me, and I’m guessing it was you who ripped up the letter from Einstein Academy so that you wouldn’t lose your buffer. But I’m done with this, I’m transferring, go deal with your own shit.”

“Riley what are you talking about?” her father said looking between the two teens.

“I don’t know dad, why don’t you ask Elliot why he has a perfect GPA when he doesn’t even study, or why I’m in advance placement classes in his level but he barely shows up to class,” she said standing as close as she could to her brother’s ear. “No more of your bullshit.”

“We didn’t know you got accepted to Einstein Academy,” her mother said looking at her children in shock.

“Of course I’m not your golden child, maybe for once you should actually look at your children instead of ignoring them,” Riley said pulling up her sleeves showing the marks that marred her skin. “Maybe for once, you would see something that had been there for so long.”

When she was done, she walked away towards her bedroom, Lucas and Farkle followed her, neither one of them looking at them Matthews as they walked away. When they reached her room Riley pulled out a duffel bag and started shoving clothes in there, an extra pair of shoes, and her journals.

“Farkle is it okay if I stay at your house for a while,” she said once she finished. “My parents know yours so it wouldn’t be so much of an issues.”

“No problem,” Farkle said looking at the girl he had saved from drowning when they were kids. “No problem at all, there’s always room for you there.”

They walked out of her room, Lucas taking her bags, he knew that they would be lucky if the Matthews even let her out the door but he was going to try. When they reached the living room, her parents stood frozen where they had been earlier, almost as if they didn’t know what to do with what they had seen or heard. Auggie came over from the bay window and hugged Riley.

“Take care of my sister,” he said to both Lucas and Farkle. “I’ll see you again.”

Riley smiled at her brother and squeezed him, “I’ll make sure of that.”

“Riley’s going to stay at my place Mr. and Mrs. Matthews,” Farkle said looking at Riley’s parents with disgust.  “While she’s there maybe you should get your son some help before he does any more damage than he already has.”

They didn’t say anything, they just stayed there, and Lucas knew that they had all of a sudden lost everything without doing anything at all. They had ignored their children, and this was the cause of it all but Riley’s protection was going to be his number one priority.

The three of them got to Farkle’s place and all plopped themselves down on the couch, Lucas was tired, more tired than he had been during this entire journey. He wanted to go to sleep, his eyes felt heavy as he closed them. He heard Riley giggle at him falling asleep but then she wrapped a blanket over him and he knew that she was going to be fine.

\--------------------------------------------

 _“Hello?”_ a voice said. Lucas walked towards it only to be faced with himself, but he was more built than lean.

“What does this mean?” Lucas said at his other self.

_“I’m going back, I don’t know why this happened but I do know that being in your sleeping form, dreaming what you dreamed, that you had done something for me. Thank you, for saving her.”_

“For Riley, I would move mountains,” Lucas said. “Do you know what happened while I was there?”

_“Yeah, and I’ll remember it all, I’ll do good by her and maybe one day she’ll sound as sweet as the girl who’s voice I heard calling out for you. Thank you for doing what I didn’t have the courage to do.”_

“I knew I had to do something, I mean you pretty much have a million pictures of her, but do me a favor, and treat her kindly, she’s fragile but tough.”

_“So is yours, go to her, and tell her what you don’t have the courage to, because if you’ve learned anything from me it’s that you could lose everything if you don’t speak up.”_

With that Lucas walked through the door, his other self, walking through the door on the other side, he was going home.

\----------------------------------------------

Riley watched Lucas asleep on the bed, the doctor had told them that he hadn’t suffered any major injury, but he needs to rest for a few days. They said that he should wake up soon and that he had a concussion from the injury so they should keep a close eye on him for the next couple of days in case his injury got worse. He had been sleeping all night, and she hadn’t left him. Even when his parents went home for the night to grab some clothes for him. Or when her parents tried to get her to move. She didn’t want to leave.

She wondered if he was sleeping like in one of the fairy tales and that she should kiss him to wake him up. It always worked in the movies.

“True love’s kiss,” she said out loud remembering how it was the answer to so many fairy tales. She leaned down to his face noting the bruising on his eye, she kissed him there first, then on his cheek before moving towards his lips. It was slow, she felt the softness of them against hers and knew that if he could feel it he would like it too. When she pulled away she grabbed her arm making her yelp.

“It worked?” she said looking at him as his green eyes opened and looked into her brown. “Oh my god, it worked.”

“It’s a nice way to wake up you know,” he said smiling at her before wincing from the pain of his injury. “I feel like I went toe to toe with tombstone and he trampled on my face.”

“No,” she said remembering the bull. “It’s not as bad as that, I hope not, that would be horrible.”

“Riles you’re babbling,” he said smiling. “I missed that.”

“Lucas you’ve only been here since yesterday,” she said smiling.

“It feels like an eternity,” he said looking at her like she was the sun, it made her blush but she didn’t look away. “Riley.”

“Yeah?”

“I love you,” he said making her gasp as everyone they knew filed into the room before she could reply.

“Look whose up,” Zay said as he stood next to Riley’s chair. “Have a good rest Captain America.”

“Yeah Huckleberry, have a good cat nap?” Maya said but Riley started to ignore all the jabs her friends were saying.

They were having a moment and of course it had gotten ruined, but she didn’t want it to end so instead of waiting for another moment with the both of them alone she moved towards Lucas and gave him a kiss on the lips. Everyone around them started groaning, but as she pulled away she smiled at him.

“I love you too Lucas.”


	27. Season 4 Extra: Story Cover




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